16th Thematic Working Group on EFA Meeting
3 June 2005
United Nations Conference Centre
Meeting Room A
09:00 – 12:30
Meeting Minutes
Opening, Adoption of Agenda, Introductions
UIS Asia-Pacific Regional Advisor and AIMS chief Ko-Chih Tung chaired the meeting on behalf of UNESCO Bangkok Director Sheldon Shaeffer who was indisposed and sent his apologies.
Ko-Chih gave an overview of the proposed agenda and noted that the meeting would give opportunity for special focus on Thailand. He acknowledged the presence of Thailand National Commission Secretary General and Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education (MoE) Charuaypon Torranin who reported on the progress of EFA in the country and urged those present to make suggestions on how there organizations could relate and contribute to EFA implementation in Thailand.
Ko-Chih noted that there will be some changes in the order of the agenda to accommodate competing and conflicting schedules.
Click here for a full list of meeting participants (pdf).
EFA Implementation in Thailand
In her presentation, Khun Charuaypon reported on Thailand’s EFA performance as indicated in the 2005 EFA Global Monitoring Report and through further self-assessment and investigation. She also provided overview of current plans and actions and the future of EFA in Thailand based on new government policies for 2005-2008. Download the complete presentation in pdf.
Comments outside of the Powerpoint presentation:
• The figures show that Thailand has a strong financial commitment to education and is focusing on extensive early childhood care and education.
• The MoE was concerned by the statistics released in the GMR 2005 report showing very different figures from those used in Thailand. This has prompted the MoE to review its data collection technique and methodology. The Minister of Education has subsequently ordered to try and reconcile the MoE data with the UNESCO figures and has asked for the assistance of the AIMS Unit as the Regional Office of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. With this, Khun Charuaypon said the MoE hopes Thailand will have more accurate figures in the next years.
• Thailand’s Self-Assessment EFA Report 2000-04 shows the average educational attainment of Thai people is 8.5 years. The same report shows there has been a one percentage point decrease in the Education sector budget but the MoE still has the highest budget among government ministries. The teacher-student ratio also shows a higher number of students per teacher in vocational courses. Khun Charuaypon said this means the MoE has put a lot of effort to improve vocational and technical education in Thailand.
• Actions for EFA: She noted that the government is providing 14 years of free education, two years more than the 12 years mandated in the Constitution.
• She also reported briefly on Thailand’s Education Reform Roadmap for 2005-08, which is dubbed as the new hope for EFA in Thailand. For 2006, the MOE is getting its highest budget in past 10 years.
Discussion
Khun Chuaruaypon answering questions from TWG members on Thailand’s programs for the education of children with disabilities (CWD) noted that the government has set up 32 Special Education Schools all over the country although a number of CWD are also enrolled in regular schools. Thailand’s National Education Act of 1991 and its sub-acts and declarations also allows for a higher budget allocation for these special schools.
Khun Chuaruaypon said Thailand also has “disadvantaged” schools and schools for children with disabilities, although the government has no exact data and promised to report back to the TWG once the MoE gets the figures.
On the question of what Thailand is doing about migrant or stateless children, Khun Chuaruaypon said that after the release of the Global Monitoring Report, the government realized that stateless children may have been left out of the education system. This is why the MoE consulted the AIMS Unit through Mr. Ko-Chih Tung. She admitted that at first the MoE didn’t believe the GMR figures but is now investigating the discrepancy and trying to resolve it. The AIMS Unit, UNESCO Bangkok, is working with the MoE on institutional and staff statistical capacity-building. The MoE will undertake household surveys, which also aims to identify if some residents belong to an ethnic minority and whether they are educated.
Hameed Hakeem also noted that since the average education attainment for Thai’s is 8.5 years, this may have implications in the country’s productivity. Khun Chuaruaypon said the government aims to increase the number to 9.1 years by 2008. As for literacy rates, Thailand has high figures but this does not cover functional literacy. She also said there have been discussions about Mother Tongue and language issues but that these are seen as a minor issue.
Ko-Chih noted that UNESCO and other UN agencies are currently preparing the Thai CCA (Common Country Assessment) and stressed that this should be done in cooperation with the government. He urged the MoE representatives to contact UNESCO or other UN agencies if they have any questions or issues related to the CCA. He also stressed that the MoE should suggest areas of cooperation and collaboration with the TWG on EFA and its members.
Flagship reporting
UNGEI
Chiharu Kondo reported that in the last UNGEI meeting, the group agreed to disseminate information on good practices, advocacy briefs, country mapping and the GAP report. They also had a discussion on how to make UNESCO Bangkok’s EFA website’s UNGEI page more useful.
Viet Nam will soon launch its UNGEI network. Chiharu added that currently Thailand does not have a UNGEI network. However, the country’s child-friendly school initiative, which has been very successful and visited by many other countries’ education officials, also consists of gender responsiveness. She encouraged that Thailand also form such networks to strengthen its responses in Girls’ Education. Khun Chuaruaypon said the MoE is very much interested in any collaboration.
Responding to a question, she noted that the disability issue is part of the UNGEI concern. She also encouraged disabled people’s organizations (DPO) and International NGOs like CBM to be part of UNGEI to highlight disabilities issues.
Bill Brohier of CBM/ICEVI raised the question of accessibility of websites to people with disabilities (PWD) and was asked to share more information about this to the larger group. Download the complete presentation in pdf.
UNLD
Kiichi Oyasu had hoped to be able to share the UNLD progress report with the TWG, but promised that it would be released and distributed in the coming week (6-10 June) and followed by a strategy development meeting to be held in Tokyo this coming July. Kiichi also introduced the LIFE initiative to the group.
Details of both UNLD and LIFE can be found in the presentation (pdf) and through the UNESCO Bangkok, APPEAL website.
FRESH
Arun Mallik reported that the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education continues to promote FRESH/school health in the region through support to the development of effective school health programs as a part of a broader initiative of child friendly schools. National workshops with FRESH partners have served to strengthened national responses to issues of school health. FRESH, being a relatively new initiative, Arun highlighted the need for closer cooperation among concerned stakeholders.
The Thai MoE asked for possible technical assistance (in terms of training) in the future should Thailand integrate HIV/AIDS and sex education into its curriculum. Download Arun's presentation in pdf.
EFA and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Towards Inclusion
Aiko Akiyama enumerated several disabilities-related meetings lined-up for the year, which can all be found in the UNESCAP Website. She also recommended linking the website to the Regional EFA Website.
Penny Price gave an update (download in pdf) on the Task Force on EFA of Children and Youth with Disabilities adding that two working groups under the body have been formed. She added that she hopes UNESCO can help form a WG on this flagship in the region. She also recommended that an in depth study on teacher education be conducted, including special training in handling CWD.
Bill noted that members of the TWG may not be familiar with the recent history of this flagship. He suggested that Biwako Millennium Framework documents can be sent out to anyone interested. Read the full text of the Biwako Millennium Framework from the UNESCAP Website.
UN Common Country Assessment in Thailand
In 2005, the UN Country Team Thailand initiated a process of common country assessment or CCA (download in pdf). In doing so, six inter-agency working groups covering cross-cutting vulnerability issues have been formed to explore developmental challenges and issues in Thailand. These groups are: Education, Poverty Reduction and Social Protection, HIV/AIDS, Migration, Local Governance/Decentralization and Environment. The thematic working groups are currently synthesizing contributions into a thematic report that will be submitted by mid-June and later inform the UN Development Assistance Framework for Thailand.
UNICEF Regional Update
Chiharu presented in behalf of Cliff Meyers who sent apologies for his absence at the TWG. UNICEF has just conducted an Education Project Officers’ (EPOs’) meeting where they discussed the organization’s progress and the challenges it is facing. One of the discussions was its new Medium Term Strategic Plan (MTSP) for 2006-2009, and one of the organizational priority areas is “Basic Education and Gender Equality”. Chiharu also shared an overview (download in pdf) of the distribution of staff and funds for education in the region and setting the course for continued and future activities in education in the region.
Penny recommended that UNICEF to broaden its focus from children who are deaf to all children with disabilities.
Roundtable III, Disability Mainstreaming in Practice
This roundtable, held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, was the third of three regional roundtables being held as part of the Disability Knowledge and Research programme (Disability KaR). It had the theme “Mainstreaming in action: the case of inclusive education”, and was attended by 64 participants. Among the participants were members of the inclusive education team and the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS), representatives of United Nations agencies, donor organizations and mainstream international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and representatives of regional, national and grass roots disabled people’s organizations (DPOs).
The discussions focused on the concepts of inclusive education, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to inclusive education (SWOT analysis) and strategies to overcome the challenges identified through the SWOT analysis.
Aiko noted that Cambodia has an existing law that prevents people with disabilities from becoming teachers. She urged the group to do its share of advocacy related to this issue.
Tsunami Response Update
Given a shortage of time, it was agreed that agency/organization reports on tsunami-related activities will be distributed via e-mail. Download a report on the tsunami update in pdf.
Announcements
Copies of a brief report (download in pdf) from the flagship on Education for Rural People were distributed with apologies from Malcolm Hazelman, FAO. Mr. Hakeem added that the ERP toolkit is available for downloading on the FAO website.
Bill announced the International Symposium on Inclusion and the Removal of Barriers to Learning, Participation and Development: Inclusive and Child Friendly Schools Emerging in Asia to be held in Bukittinggi and Payakumbuh [West Sumatra], Indonesia, from 26 to 29 September 2005. Full details of the Symposium are available at the IDP-Europe website and the Activities Calendar of the EFA website.
Ko-Chih closed the meeting and thanked everyone for their participation.
