Education for All (EFA) is an international initiative first launched in 1990 to bring the benefits of education

to “every citizen in every society.” To realize this aim, a broad coalition of national governments, civil
society groups, and development agencies such as UNESCO and the World Bank Group committed to
achieving six specific education goals:

1. Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most
vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

2. Ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, those in difficult circumstances, and those
belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free, and compulsory primary
education of good quality.

3. Ensure that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to
appropriate learning and life-skills programs.

4. Achieve a 50% improvement in adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access
to basic and continuing education for all adults.

5. Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieve gender
equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and
achievement in basic education of good quality.

6. Improve all aspects of the quality of education and ensure the excellence of all so that recognized
and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and
essential life skills.

In 2000, 189 countries and their partners adopted the two EFA goals that align with Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) 2 and 3, which refer to universal primary education and gender parity. The
World Bank recognizes that achieving these goals requires supporting the full EFA commitment.

Why is EFA important?

Although there has been steady progress towards achieving many EFA goals, many challenges remain:

 Today, an estimated 250 million children around the world are unable to read and write, even after
spending three or more years in school.

 In 2012, 58 million children were out of school; half of these children lived in conflict-affected
countries.

 In sub-Saharan Africa, girls accounted for 56% of out-of-school children in 2012.

 In 2011, only 60% of countries had achieved gender parity in enrollment at the primary level and
38% at the secondary level.

 In around one-third of countries, fewer than 75% of primary school teachers are trained according
to national standards.

 In 2011, around half of young children had access to pre-primary education, and in sub-Saharan
Africa the share was only 18%.

Achieving the Education for All goals is critical for attaining all eight MDGs—in part due to the direct
impact of education on child and reproductive health, as well as the fact that EFA has created a body of
experience in multi-partner collaboration toward the 2015 targets. Simultaneously, achieving the other
MDGs, such as improved health, access to clean drinking water, decreased poverty, and environmental
sustainability, are critical to achieving the education MDGs.
What is the World Bank doing to achieve EFA?

The Bank supports EFA through multidimensional efforts to:

 Improve educational quality and learning outcomes

 Improve primary school access and equity

 Improve the dropout and retention rates of girls, as well as their learning outcomes

 Promote early childhood development

Protect EFA prospects in fragile statesThe Bank helps countries achieve their education goals through
finance and knowledge services in the forms of analytic work, policy advice, and technical assistance.

Policy work is a key component of the Bank’s work to realize EFA. The Bank’s Systems Approach for
Better Education Results Initiative (SABER), for example, collects and analyzes policy data on education
systems around the world, using evidence-based frameworks to highlight policies and institutions that
matter most to promote learning for all children.

The World Bank Group also supports the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), as a Board Member,
host of the GPE Secretariat, trustee and supervising entity for the vast majority of GPE grants.

Finally, the World Bank also supports EFA efforts through analytic work and sharing of global knowledge
and good practice. The Bank’s analytic work has, for example, helped establish benchmarks for quality,
efficiency, and resource mobilization in the education sector. 

Last Updated: Aug 04, 2014

https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/brief/education-for-all

Education For All

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Education For All (EFA) is a global movement led by UNESCO (United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization), aiming to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and
adults by 2015.[1]
EFA was adopted by The Dakar Framework in April 2000 at the World Education Forum in Senegal,
Africa, with the goal in mind that all children would receive primary education by 2015. [2][3] Not all
children receive the education they need or want, therefore this goal was put in place to help those
children.
UNESCO has been mandated to lead the movement and coordinate the international efforts to reach
Education for All. Governments, development agencies, civil society, non-government organizations
and the media are but some of the partners working toward reaching these goals.
The EFA goals also contribute to the global pursuit of the eight Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), especially MDG 2 on universal primary education and MDG 3 on gender equality in
education, by 2015.
The Fast Track Initiative (now called Global Partnership for Education) was set up to implement the
EFA movement, aiming at "accelerating progress towards quality universal primary education".
UNESCO also produces the annual Global Education Monitoring Report. [

UNESCO[edit]
UNESCO works with others around the world to reach a mutual understanding for everyone to work well together.
[5]
 UNESCO coordinates international cooperation, which allows access to education, grow and live in a diverse
community, learn from advancements in technology, and freedom of expression. This cooperation allows UNESCO
to work with others to create opportunities for children and other citizens around the world. Goals are created to
provide all children with an elementary education, which is important to some families. [2] Educational programs are
also created through the cooperation.[6]
Audrey Azoulay was elected as the Director-General on November 15, 2017 for a four-year term. Azoulay has
priorities in place and one of the highest ones is education. Working with others will allow education programs to
spread globally. Azoulay is working hard to make sure all these goals and cooperation are kept in line to help better
the present and future for children and other citizens.[7] She believes that these issues faced by countries cannot be
met by one country alone; therefore working with different countries will make it more possible to solve these issues
and meet goals.[8]

Partnerships[edit]
Partnerships are what helps UNESCO fix global challenges. These partnerships are managed very carefully to
reassure that the goals set in place are met. UNESCO works in different ways with their partnerships such as
collaboration, volunteers, advocacy, and consultations. By having these different ways of working with others,
UNESCO is able to have many partnerships and have them globally. [9] UNESCO's partners range from individuals to
institutions all around the world. Some of them are governments, Private Sector companies, Goodwill Ambassadors,
media organizations, corporate and philanthropic foundations, parliamentarians, the wider UN family,
other intergovernmental organizations, specialized networks in UNESCO, and NGOs.[9]
UNESCO offers many entry levels for partnerships, which are organizations that have leadership and goals/priorities
set in place to achieve. Some examples of those are education, natural sciences, oceans, social and human
sciences, culture, communication and information, priority Africa, and crisis and transition. [10] Education is the top
priority for UNESCO and they are working with EFA to create better education for all children and adults. The
problem that comes from this is that every country is different and that reflects achieving these education goals.
Countries differ in the quality of education due to economics and culture. This is where is a great need to strengthen
finances, resources, and technology. Technology is booming in this time, and that has an effect on how much
education students have access to globally.[11] Therefore, those areas need to be strengthened to ensure that
education is top priority going into the future.

World Education Forum (Dakar, Senegal, 2000) [edit]

In 2000, ten years later, the international community met again at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, an
event which drew 1100 participants. The forum took stock of the fact that many countries were far from having
reached the goals established at the World Conference on Education for All in 1990. The participants agreed on
the Dakar Framework for Action which re-affirmed their commitment to achieving Education for All by the year
2015, and identified six key measurable education goals which aim to meet the learning needs of all children, youth
and adults by 2015. In addition, the forum reaffirmed UNESCO's role as the lead organization with the overall
responsibility of coordinating other agencies and organizations in the attempts to achieve these goals. The six goals
established in The Dakar Framework for Action, Education for All: Meeting Our Collective Commitments are:

 Goal 1: Expand early childhood care and education[12]

 Goal 2: Provide free and compulsory primary education for all[13]
 Goal 3: Promote learning and life skills for young people and adults [14]
 Goal 4: Increase adult literacy by 50 percent[15]
 Goal 5: Achieve gender parity by 2005, gender equality by 2015 [16]
 Goal 6: Improve the quality of education [17]
In order to evaluate each country's progress with regards to the EFA's goals set in the Dakar Framework for Action,
UNESCO has developed the Education for All Development Index (EDI). The EDI measures four of the six EFA
goals, selected on the basis of data availability. Each of the four goals is evaluated using a specific indicator, and
each of those components is then assigned equal weight in the overall index.
The EDI value for a given country is thus the arithmetic mean of the four indicators. Since they are all expressed as
percentages, the EDI value can vary from 0 to 100% or, when expressed as a ratio, from 0 to 1. The higher the EDI
value, the closer the country is to achieving Education For All as a whole.
The four goals measured in the EDI and their corresponding indicators are:

 Goal 1: Expand early childhood care and education - The indicator selected to measure progress towards
this goal is the total primary net enrolment ratio (NER), which measures the percentage of primary-school-age
children who are enrolled in either primary or secondary school. Its value varies from 0 to 100%. Therefore, a
NER of 100% means that all eligible children are enrolled in school.
 Goal 4: Increase adult literacy by 50 percent - Although existing data on literacy are not entirely satisfactory,
the adult literacy rate for those aged 15 and above is used here as a proxy to measure progress.
 Goal 5: Achieve gender parity by 2005, gender equality by 2015: The indicator selected to measure
progress towards this goal is the gender-specific EFA index, the GEI, which is itself a simple average of the
three gender parity indexes (GPI) for primary education, secondary education and adult literacy, with each being
weighted equally. Therefore, it encompasses the two sub-goals of the original EFA goal: gender parity
(achieving equal participation of girls and boys in primary and secondary education) and gender equality
(ensuring that educational equality exists between boys and girls) proxied by the GPI for adult literacy
 Goal 6: Improve the quality of education - The survival rate to Grade 5 was selected for as being the best
available proxy for assessing the quality component of EDI, as comparable data are available for a large
number of countries.[18]
The EFA Global Monitoring Report[19] published annually by UNESCO tracks progress on the six education goals.
The 2015 review indicates that only a third of countries reached all the goals with measurable targets. [

EFA and Inclusion[edit]

Inclusion is a main component that is used with EFA. Since EFA is a global movement all children are involved:
different cultures, religions, disabilities, and more. The problem that is faced with inclusion is how different countries
define disability.[2] To be more specific the problem comes with the definition of special needs. This can affect how or
if those students can meet the goals that are created. To make sure all children are included schools collaborate to
see how all the children can meet the certain goals given. [21] This area may be a challenging one for some and it
comes down to what does the term "all" really mean in Education For All? [22] That is an answer that will vary country
to country and every where around the world. There have been predictions that by the year 2025 the number of
children with disabilities will have risen. A majority of that number will be children in developing countries. Therefore,
answers are needed on how to include all children in the learning and educational goals set. [22] Similar to technology
in schools, inclusion can grow and become more common in schools.

Meeting Goals[edit]
These goals set by the EFA were not able to be met by all. Some countries were unable to meet these goals due to
conflict in the area.[23] Conflicts can cause destruction and prevent children from even going to school or learning
from home.[23] There was a fear that certain countries would not be able to gain access to certain technology and
support to meet these goals. Technology is a problem that countries run into with trying to improve education for
children and even adults. As technology advances it is becoming a bigger key component in some schools.
Depending on some areas technology is the central focus point to help students learn. In other areas that may not
be the case. If technology keeps advancing that may have different affects on countries. Some may not be able to
keep up with the advances and other may be able to keep up. This all goes back to financial stability and economics
in each country. One of UNESCO's partners, World Bank worked with the countries that were most likely not going
to meet the goals by the deadline (2015). World Bank provided these countries with support and in return they
would get certain policy reforms.[24] This allows countries to receive support to help achieve the educational goals.
This can be helpful for countries that are less fortunate in financial and economic stability. Some of these countries
that struggled were in East Africa: Kenya and Tanzania. When all the countries in East Africa had declared
independence, then education became the priority for all. The problem became that those countries struggled with
educational on literacy challenges.[citation needed]

Recent UNESCO Updates[edit]

UNESCO revealed in its 2017 Global Education Monitoring Report that around 264 million youngsters do not attend
school. An additional $39 billion is needed annually to enhance the quality of schools worldwide. This will provide
2.2 billion children globally equal access to learning. At present, only 83 percent of students who attend school are
able to finish elementary education and a low of 45 percent of kids 15 up to 17 years old complete the secondary
level.[25] UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova stated in an official statement that "Education is a shared
responsibility between us all: governments, schools, teachers, parents and private actors." Accountability describes
how mentors teach, students learn, and bureaucracies take action. [26] The World Bank said in 2017 that millions of
learners from different parts of the world in underdeveloped and developing nations are confronted with problems of
lost opportunities and low wages since primary as well as secondary schools fail in educating these students
properly.[27]
Gender parity[edit]
Over the past 25 years, substantial progress has been made towards achieving gender parity in efforts to improve
girls’ education, including policies and programmes aimed at changing social attitudes, providing financial support to
female students and making schools more accessible.[28] The fifth goal of the Education for All programme envisaged
achieving parity by 2005, a target that was missed; however, continuous progress was made throughout the 1990s
and 2000s, with the result that parity was reached in 2009 in primary and secondary education and had almost been
achieved in youth literacy by 2016. Gender disparity to the disadvantage of females remained in adult literacy,
where 63% of illiterate adults are female. And in tertiary education, gender disparity flipped to the disadvantage of
males: As early as 2004, men became less likely than women to participate at the tertiary level. [28]

Philippines shares experience and priorities at

Global Education Meeting
4 October 2020; Paris, France — Philippine Education Secretary Leonor Briones participated in an
online Extraordinary Global Education Meeting (GEM) co-organized by the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Governments of Ghana,
Norway, and the United Kingdom on Thursday.

Secretary Briones emphasized the Philippines always prioritized education in accordance with its
Constitution. Education received the highest portion of the national budget. However, in view of the
COVID-19 pandemic, there was intense competition for national resources and the challenge was to
defend continuity of learning.

“We are doing all we can to ensure continuity of learning,” she emphasized.

The Philippines was doing its best so that delivery of learning was done in as safe a manner as
possible. As the world seeks to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, “education is a sound
investment for transformation,” noted Briones.

She shared that enrollment for elementary schools in 2021 was even higher than in previous years.
Despite the challenges, “there will be equity and quality gains in education in the Philippines,” she
concluded.
Heads of State and Government and Ministers from 70 countries and executives of a number of
international organizations addressed the event, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The GEM adopted a declaration on the importance of promoting and protecting the right to education
of all learners, especially girls and the most vulnerable, during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery
phase.

The GEM highlighted the need for action and cooperation in three areas:

1. Maintaining and strengthening domestic and international financial support to the education sector;

2. Safe reopening of schools; and

3. Narrowing the digital divide.

Countries and stakeholders at the meeting pledged to monitor progress towards the fulfillment of the
2030 Education Agenda and the action areas identified in the GEM Declaration.

The Philippines is a member of 2030 Education Agenda Global Steering Committee and actively
participated in the drafting of the GEM Declaration. Suggestions made by the Permanent Delegation
of the Philippines to UNESCO were incorporated in the text, particularly on addressing the digital
divide and enhancing international cooperation for developing countries.

https://www.deped.gov.ph/2020/10/25/philippines-shares-experience-and-priorities-at-global-education-meeting/

What is Global Education?

A global education is one that incorporates learning about the cultures, geographies, histories, and current issues of
all the world's regions. It emphasizes the interconnectedness and diversity of peoples and histories. Global
education develops students' skills to engage with their global peers and highlights actions students can take as
citizens of the world. It is a lens that can be applied to all disciplines and all grade levels as well as the broader
school community.

Why now?
Global learning is essential in the 21st century as barriers between nations and people continue to fade. From the
information we consume to the business we conduct to the people we meet, our lives are becoming ever more
global. The diversity of our communities reflects this reality as well. It follows that students need to become more
informed and compassionate citizens, and teachers are critical to making this happen.

What can you do?

All educators have a responsibility to create a globally inclusive environment for students. Schools, for example, can
promote a more nuanced understanding of the multiple perspectives held by the world's people. A global classroom
can enable students to connect with other ideas and cultures as they navigate and evaluate a variety of information.
Teachers of all disciplines can create meaningful learning opportunities that explore cross-cultural perspectives,
draw from international examples, and encourage analytical thinking about global issues. Together, these global
learning experiences prepare students to engage the larger world with greater confidence, thoughtfulness, and
empathy.

All students deserve a high-quality global education. Working together with educators and schools, Primary Source
seeks to make this possible.

Whatisglobaleducation?
The heart of global education is enabling young people to participate in shaping a better, shared future for the world.

Global education emphasises the unity and interdependence of human society, developing a sense of self and
appreciation of cultural diversity, affirmation of social justice and human rights, as well as building peace and actions
for a sustainable future in different times and places.

Global education promotes positive values and assists students to take responsibility for their actions and to see
themselves as global citizens who can contribute to a more peaceful, just and sustainable world.
 Australian global educators place particular emphasis on developing relationships with our neighbours in the Asia–
Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.

Global Perspectives, A framework for global education in Australian schools is a concise, practical and philosophical
guide to including a global perspective across the curriculum. There is also advice for teachers and school leadership
teams on how to implement the framework at a school level. 

Whatareglobalperspectives?

Global education has five learning emphases or perspectives:

 Interdependence and globalisation – an understanding of the complex social, economic and political links
between people and the impact that changes have on each other
 Identity and cultural diversity – an understanding of self and one’s own culture, and being open to the
culture of others
 Social justice and human rights – an understanding of the impact of inequality and discrimination, the
importance of standing up for our own rights and our responsibility to respect the rights of others
 Peace building and conflict resolution – an understanding of the importance of building and maintaining
positive and trusting relationships and ways conflict can be prevented or peacefully resolved
 Sustainable futures – an understanding of the ways in which we can meet our current needs without
diminishing the quality of the environment or reducing the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs.

Whyadoptaglobalperspective?
A global perspective offers students and teachers:

 an approach which takes into account the whole of human society and the environments in which people live
 an emphasis on the future, the dynamic nature of human society, and each person’s capacity to choose and
shape preferred futures
 an opportunity to explore important themes such as change, interdependence, identity and diversity, rights
and responsibilities, peace building, poverty and wealth, sustainability and global justice
 a focus on cooperative learning and action, and shared responsibility
 an emphasis on critical thinking and communication
 an opportunity to develop positive and responsible values and attitudes, important skills and an orientation to
active participation.

Taking action is the concluding stage of the inquiry process. It assists students to consider what they have learnt and
encourages them to respond, applying their new knowledge and skills. Global Perspectives(2008, p 7) outlines these
skills and attitudes to foster action and participation.

 The ability to identify and investigate different opportunities for action and participation.
 The ability to consider the consequences, positive and negative, for oneself and for others of particular
actions.
 A willingness to be involved in action to support desirable outcomes.
 A capacity to identify possible barriers to successful participation and ability to devise strategies to overcome
these.
 A willingness and capacity to cooperate with others and to foster, encourage and value the participation of
others.
 A capacity to reflect on and evaluate forms of action, to review progress and to reconsider forms of action.
Action may be personal, based within a local community or as part of a global community.

Action may be varying levels of involvement: 

 To learn more – reading, viewing, talking to others, interviewing experts

 To act more – changing own behaviour, discussing ideas with others, joining groups of like-minded people,
signing petitions, educating others, creating displays, writing blogs, letters and opinion articles, creating film and
drama, making speeches, talking to decision-makers, advocating change.
 To share more – donating, fundraising, volunteering
Civil Society Organisations

There are many types of groups through which people can join together to pursue shared interests and take action for
change. These include community- and village-based groups, Indigenous groups, labour unions, cooperatives,
 charitable and faith-based organisations, professional associations, chambers of commerce, independent research
institutes and the not-for-profit media. They vary greatly according to philosophy, purpose, programs, working style,
scope of activities, expertise and structures.

The following organisations offer learning resources and opportunities for taking action:

 Amnesty International Australia

 Australian Red Cross
 CARE Australia, Resources for teachers
 Caritas Australia, Resources for schools
 Cool Australia
 Oxfam, Resources for teachers
 Plan, Learning resources
 UNICEF, Educational resources
 World Vision, School resources 

Global education

Provides a four-part framework for thinking about the content of global education. The elements are the study
of: (1) diverse human values; (2) global economic, political, ecological, and technological systems; (3) global
problems and issues; and (4) the history of contact and interdependence among peoples, cultures, and
nations. (JDH)

Schooling and Citizenship in a Global Age: An Exploration of the

Meaning and Significance of Global Education.
Anderson, Lee
The full meaning of global education and the realities which make it imperative are discussed in this work. Global
education is defined as "consisting of efforts to bring about the changes in the content, in the methods, and in the social
context of education in order to better prepare students for citizenship in a global age." This definition contains three
major propositions that have far reaching implications for education. The first proposition is: "The students now in the
nation's schools are becoming citizens within the context of a global era in human history." In connection with this
proposition, the author illustrates the global quality of life in the contemporary world; provides a brief historical overview
of the globalization of the human condition; discusses how the history, the geography, the economics, the politics, and the
sociology of the human condition have become globalized; and argues that the cumulative consequence of these
developments is the creation of a global society. The second proposition is: "The demands of citizenship in a global age
call for the development of competencies that have not been traditionally emphasized by the schools." In regard to this
proposition, the author discusses the meaning of citizenship, indicates four ways in which citizenship has been altered by
the globalization of the human condition, and outlines four kinds of competencies that appear central to the exercise of
citizenship in a global age. The third proposition is "Certain changes must take place in the content, in the methods, and in
the social context of education if schools are to become more effective agents of citizen education in a global age." The
author argues that there is a need to globalize the content of education, to personalize the methods of education, and to
internationalize the social context of education. (Author/NE).