 EFA: THE PROCESS

The process of transforming EFA from a vision to a reality is evidently complex and varies considerably from country to country and situation to situation. There are, nonetheless, certain essential steps that all countries must take in one way or another to advance toward EFA. There are, in addition, special problems and possibilities that confront the high-population countries.

Shaping the vision:

Education for All is a societal objective. Its achievement requires that the political leadership, through a national dialogue, communicate to the people that EFA is of critical importance and requires a nationwide effort. The terms in which the priority accorded to education is explained and justified will differ from society to society. In Egypt, for example, education is presented as a matter of national security: i.e. as an essential requirement for ensuring the future well-being of the nation. In China, education is advocated as a fundamental part of a revolutionary process aimed at building a socialist society within a strong and modern nation. What is common in both of these justifications, and in those of other countries as well, is that education is considered not merely as a social service, but as a vital and transformative process. It is the means for shaping the nation's future, for building a better and more bountiful tomorrow. it is this that confers upon it such critical importance and justifies its claim upon a significant and growing share of scarce resources.

This vision has, of course, to be articulated in precise terms and concrete measures: in policy objectives, laws, strategies, administrative directives, etc. This is the formal side of the process. As concerns EFA, this has been accomplished, to a considerable degree, in all nine countries, especially as concerns legal provisions. There are, to be sure, differences. In Egypt, primary education has been compulsory for 70 years. There has been and remains, however, a gap between the law and its enforcement. In Pakistan, compulsory education is applicable only in areas where schools are accessible. In Nigeria, not only is school compulsory, but there are legal constraints against removing a girl from school for purposes of marriage. In other cases, it is not educational law that needs to be enforced, but laws against child labour that keep children away from school. In sum, the right to education is well established in law. What is required are the means to ensure that all can enjoy the protection that the law provides.

Strategies concern not the 'what', but the 'how'. They must obviously be selected in the light of the country's circumstances and aspirations. An essential element in formulating a strategy is setting priorities. Achieving EFA is a complex and long-term undertaking. Not everything can be a priority at all times. Given the scarcity of resources, choices have to be made.

Bangladesh and Pakistan, for example, have decided to concentrate all available resources on the extension of primary education. In China, India, Indonesia and Mexico, while primary education receives by far the largest budgetary allocations, major programmes of literacy and adult education are also conducted. In Brazil and Egypt, increased attention is being given to programmes of early childhood education as a means of reaching disadvantaged children and ensuring greater equality of opportunity. All nine countries are seeking to achieve EFA, but each is in a unique situation and pursuing its objectives in the manner that it deems most appropriate and effective. There are many roads to EFA, even if they all pass through certain common way stations.

Policies and strategies are, of course, only the first steps in the enormous and subtle task of transforming a vision into a reality. Thereafter, a country needs to mobilize, to organize, to finance and to conduct its programmes. National actions in each of these areas are described in sections V, VI and VII of this document.

Coping with scale and diversity:

The nine countries share the challenges of coping with scale and diversity. Their situations are by no means identical. Brazil and China, for example, extend over 8.5 million and 9.6 million square kilometers respectively whereas Bangladesh occupies less than 150,000 square kilometers. Their populations vary from approximately 55 million for Egypt to over 1,135 million for China. Yet, while the differences are enormous, all nine are large and populous countries where mobilization must be an essential part of administration and governance. In such large and populous nations, it is quite impossible for matters relating to the detailed operation of education to be handled centrally. To seek to do so would place the point of decision too far from the place of action. Time and energy would be consumed in communicating and coordinating rather than in acting.

How can the constraints of distance and scale be overcome? To begin with, five of the nine countries are federations in which education is a responsibility shared between the central government and its component states. In all countries, increasing efforts are being made to clarify the division of responsibilities and, to the extent possible, to decentralize operational authority to regional, district and local authorities. Mexico, for example, has recently completed an extensive reform of its education system, conferring operational responsibilities upon the states. The Chinese experience, and that of many other countries as well, would suggest. that the implementation of programmes should be placed at or near the local level. Those implementing programmes should be doing so for people they know, not anonymous and faceless beings. Those participating in programmes, as learners or teachers, should be in direct contact with those in charge of them. Where, as is usually the case, resources must be mobilized locally,

national reports suggest that this is much more easily done for 'our' school than for the school.

Nonetheless, national authorities have a key role to play. As suggested above, they have to articulate an appealing and compelling vision of EFA, within a wider framework of national development, that both conforms to and transcends local considerations. Vast and populous countries, in particular, need a compelling national vision to encourage and guide local initiatives. Hence, the choice is not between local action and national action. Both are required; each has a distinct part to play.

Harnessing the communications media:

The modern communications media possess an enormous educational potential. As noted in the Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs adopted by the World Conference on Education for All, the world is experiencing both an explosive growth of information and knowledge and the development of new and immensely more powerful communication capacities*3. The opportunity exists, as the Framework notes, 'to harness this force and use it positively, consciously, and with design, in order to contribute to meeting defined learning needs'.

Large and populous countries are in a particularly privileged position to exploit these capabilities in the implementation of EFA policies. High investments in both hardware and software pre fully justified as the unit cost of even expensive programmes can he modest if the audience is of sufficient size. In considering the use of media, it is helpful to distinguish between distance education in the usual sense of conventional educational programmes 'over the air' and the wider impact the mass media are having on society. The former is a growth point within education while the latter is having a growing influence an all forms of education by transforming the world in which learners live. The country reports emphasize the use of distance education, through both radio and television, in literacy programmes, teacher training and in the enrichment of primary education. It is evident that the countries recognize the potential of new technologies in overcoming the constraints imposed by distance and terrain and, in the case of Brazil and India, are even using space satellites to increase their reach. Even more conventional technologies, such as audio and visual cassettes, are finding constantly wider application. Chinese primary schools, for example, use audio cassettes in language labs and video cassettes in science courses. In short, education is, belatedly, entering the age of technology.

Enhancing the environment for learning:

Perhaps the greatest influence of the mass media is in enhancing the learning environment. Relapse into illiteracy is the fate of many

3 Indicators of the development of communication capacity are contained in annex.

learners, both children and adults, in areas where opportunities and incentives to use literacy skills are infrequent. The mass media can give purpose and point to learning by provoking interest in the world beyond the town or village. The press, in addition, presents an opportunity and incitation to read. The country reports recognize, however, that the goal of education is not only to permit people to receive 'messages', but also, and especially, to enable them to express themselves. Hence, in Mexico - to cite but one example - learning groups are provided with mimeographs to permit them to write up and circulate local news and views.

Obviously, enhancing the learning environment extends beyond the media. Learning is often a response to new opportunities to participate in the economy, society and culture. To learn is also, as the Indian report notes, an act of hope and faith. it is far more likely to occur in dynamic societies where tomorrow is seen to hold the promise of a new day. As the emphasis in several of the nine countries turns from access to quality and achievement, there is a growing awareness that schools do not exist in isolation. They exist in societies which, by valuing and using the skills they teach, can contribute enormously to their effectiveness and, in particular, to the motivation of the students who attend them. To say that while schools teach subjects, society alone can teach the value of education, is perhaps an over-simplification, but a useful one, if it serves to emphasize the importance of context to the success of the educational enterprise.

Mobilizing resources for EPA:

In many societies, there is an on-going debate as to the importance of money in improving educational performance. The comments of Philip Coombs in this regard, cited in the Indian report, seem sensible: 'While not all problems of education can be solved by throwing money at them, without money to procure the essential physical inputs (buildings, equipment and other supplies) educational systems would collapse Into empty structures'. Indeed, under-financing of education system is one of the main causes of poor educational results. Often, fixed costs for teachers and staff consume nearly the entire budget, leaving nothing for learning materials, even textbooks.

The need for greater financial resources is recognized in all nine countries. Figure 3 summarizes the increases in resources allocated to education in seven of the nine countries during the last five years'. This information is derived from the country reports. It is indicative, not definitive. Particular care should be taken in making comparisons between countries. In some cases, the amount is shown as a percentage of gross national product. In other cases, it is expressed in national currency units. In many instances, the reports do not clarify whether the amounts indicated are in constant or current

4 information on Brazil and Nigeria was not available.

values. Moreover, in certain cases, the figures shown are the amounts budgeted rather than those actually spent. Yet, even with all of these caveats, the figure clearly suggests that EFA has received major increases in most countries. This was, of course, one of the main goals of the World Conference on Education for All.

Building partnerships:

It is important, however, in considering financial support to EFA, to keep in mind that the amounts indicated are, in most cases, those allocated by the central or federal government. In certain federal systems, expenditures by the states are also included. But one of the goals of Jomtien was to encourage communities and NGOs to lend greater support to education. The World Conference recognized that EFA could not be achieved by governmental action alone. Governments possess neither the necessary resources nor the knowledge of local needs and conditions to ensure effective implementation of EFA policies. Hence, partnership was, from the beginning, one of the principles upon which the EFA movement was founded. Thus, the inputs into EFA cannot be fully measured by taking account of government budgets alone. Indeed, national effort should be judged more by the results it produces than by the resources it consumes.

In all of the nine countries, there has been a flowering of partnerships, especially in support of innovative programmes. Bangladesh plans to open some 9,000 additional registered non- governmental schools, most of them run by religious institutions. Brazil Is PRONAICA programme envisages a close collaboration with communities. Pakistan has revived the mosque school, which now provides secular as well as religious instruction, and instituted a system of over 500 home schools run by NGOs. In brief, as the summaries of national action in the following sections of this paper reveal, there has been a systematic effort in all countries to enlist new partners in the EFA movement.

Strengthening international co-operation:

All of the countries benefit in one form or another from international co- operation. In several countries, international support is mainly in the form of loans from the World Bank or regional banks. Technical assistance from multilateral sources, especially the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), also has played an important role in projects designed to build national capacity in selected aspects of basic education. In other countries, substantial bilateral assistance is being received. International NGOs, often working hand in hand with national NGOs, also provide technical and material support to small-scale projects in most of the nine countries. While substantial international assistance to education has been received by several countries, the impact has been greater than the amounts alone would suggest. Much of the aid received in several countries - including Brazil, China, India and Mexico has been used mainly to test innovative approaches and carry through educational reforms. In a number of cases, international assistance has supported pilot projects which will be followed up with large-scale national programmes. Assistance has also been directed to the most disadvantaged areas and populations where the need is greatest.

Yet, as a proportion of total resources being invested in EFA, the quantity of international assistance has been relatively modest in most countries. It has not - and was not intended to replace national funding. It has, nonetheless, substantially accelerated progress toward EFA in several countries. Certain countries are considerably more dependent on international support than are others. Bangladesh, for example, estimates that US$2,200 million of international support in the form of grants and concessional loans will be required from its development partners to enable it to carry through its EFA plans during the period 1993-2000. Bangladesh plans to invest over $2.5 billion of its own funds in EFA during the same period.

Conclusion:

This section has traced out a few of the many essential steps that countries must take to achieve EFA. As with any complex process, it calls for policy-making, priority-setting, planning, assignment of responsibilities, financing and the countless steps involved in implementation. Yet, all this, while necessary, will not suffice. Given the scope of the

undertaking and its critical importance to society, EFA cannot be handled as an administrative or bureaucratic matter. alone. It calls for social mobilization and emergency measures. It is not only a question of running schools, establishing literacy centres or opening early childhood education centres - although these are all essential -, but of mobilizing the will and moral force, the time and effort, the material and financial means to pursue EFA as a priority objective. Only in this matter, can the goal be achieved. EFA, in brief, is not only an educational issue, it is a societal issue. In a very fundamental sense, what is at stake is the nation's future.