Asia-Pacific Conference
January
17-20, 2000, Bangkok, Thailand
Regional conference on education closes
BANGKOK
(EFA Forum) -- Greater political priority and funding for basic education in the
Asia-Pacific
should be the bedrock for a regional basic education strategy for the 21st
century, said an education review conference of these countries that ended here
today.
The
17-20
January Asia-Pacific
Conference on EFA (Education
for All)
2000 Assessment
wound up with 41
nations
from Iran to the Pacific adopting a draft framework for regional action to
ensure quality learning to every child, youth and adult without discriminating
between boys and girls, men and women, rich and poor, towns and villages.
The
draft action plan adopted today will be debated at the national level before
being finalized as a regional EFA strategy, which will feed into global
framework for action expected to be adopted at the World Education Forum due to
take place in Dakar, Senegal, 26
to 28
April.
While
calling on national governments and international donors to demonstrate greater
political support for basic education by increased funding, the conference
emphasized the need to create a "new
space"
for
civil society.
Communities,
non-governmental
organizations, media, business too must play a key role.
"The
lack of resources is often a matter of political will, both within national
governments and among international funding agencies,"
said
the draft document that advised "both
partners"
to
step up national budgets, development assistance and expedite debt relief for
poor nations.
The
Director-General
of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
Mr Koichiro Matsuura, who closed the conference, urged Asia-Pacific
nations to learn from the review of regional educational progress that preceded
the Bangkok conference and show the "political
commitment to follow up."
"I
am convinced that with this sound policy basis and with renewed vision and
commitment, the way is now open for us to shape an educational landscape that
meets the needs of the twenty first century,"
he
told the nearly 500
participants.
Mr
Matsuura was in Bangkok on his first visit to Asia since taking over as the head
of UNESCO in November last year.
Non-governmental
organizations, which held a parallel forum at the conference too urged
governments to hike education spending to at least seven percent of their Gross
National Product (GNP).
They
also urged international donors to "write
off debts"
of
Asia-Pacific
nations if regional governments "are
willing"
to
spend a quarter of the debt relief for improving the reach and quality of basic
education.
The
conference noted the gains and obstacles to the goals set by the landmark World
Conference on Education for All held in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990.
Mr
Matsuura noted that these goals remained valid for the new millennium and
asserted that he was "determined
to make basic education an absolute priority during my term as the head of
UNESCO."
The
national progress report cards tabled at the Bangkok conference show that while
most children are now in school, a high proportion of them drop out without
completing a basic schooling.
Girls,
especially in rural areas tend to be denied access to schools.
The
UNESCO chief, however, added that EFA goals could not be achieved by relying on
the traditional school system alone as this leaves out a large chunk of people.
"An
education system that caters to the most marginalized, that is pro-active
on gender issue, that successfully balances the demand for both quantity and
quality of provision, is the most reliable signal of a flourishing society,"
he
said.
Echoing
a proposal in the draft regional framework action plan, Mr Matsuura said that
information technology held the key to taking education farther and wider in the
new century.
"We
can use these technologies to ensure that education does not remain a once-only
opportunity.
We
can use them to forge multiple links needed between formal and non-formal
education structures,"
he
said.
The
Bangkok conference was jointly organized by UNESCO, the United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICEF),
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),
the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),
the World Bank, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
and
the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
It
was one of six regional conferences taking place around the world in the run up
to the World Education Forum next April.
Contact:
Press Room of the Asia-Pacific EFA 2000 Conference
For
further information on the conference please visit our web sites