7th National EFA Forum - Equity Matters for Quality Education for All

©UNESCO

The 7th National EFA Forum was jointly organized by the UNESCO Beijing Office, UNICEF China Office and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO on 12 – 13 April 2012 in Beijing, China.

Opened by Mr. Tao Xiping, Advisor to Education Inspector-General, Mr. Abhimanyu Singh, Director and Representative of the UNESCO Beijing Office, and Mr. Tim Sutton, Deputy Representative for UNICEF China, the Forum disseminated China’s successful experience in achieving two Education for All (EFA) goals – adult literacy and universalization of primary education – much ahead of the timeframe set in the Dakar Framework of Action. China’s net enrolment rate at primary level has reached 99.7% and illiteracy rate among young and middle aged population has decreased to 1.5%. The Forum acknowledged China’s contribution towards global and regional EFA progress and commended China’s experience as a valuable treasure for the world EFA movement, in particular for the countries that are struggling on the same journey. 

In order to address the pressing issues within the framework of EFA, such as quality and equity in education, and the emerging challenges resulted from rapidly changing socio-economic and cultural factors, the Forum initiated the process of discussing and defining a renewed national agenda towards and beyond 2015, while looking at the broader connections between education, demographic and socio-economic development. UNESCO as the lead UN agency for education has already initiated discussions on the post-2015 international education agenda. This Forum will contribute to and enrich the newly initiated regional and global thinking about post EFA agenda.

During the Forum, Mr. Min Bista, Programme Specialist for Education, and Ms. He Pei, National Programme Officer for Education of the UNESCO Beijing Office, disseminated the current status of world EFA movement and shared international experience in achieving equitable quality in basic education. 

The Forum brought together about 100 participants representing the Ministry of Education, line ministries, provincial education departments, academia, UN agencies, international and bilateral organizations, NGOs and civil society organizations. It further strengthened EFA partnership at national level and reinforced national and provincial commitments towards achieving EFA goals. 

This has been the 7th Forum since 2003 when China officially issued its National Action Plan for EFA and set out a route map for reaching the six EFA goals by 2015. Since then, the Forum has become a major platform in China for dissemination of EFA progress and exchange of experience, innovative practices and lessons learnt in educational development worldwide and at home.

Media Reports:

www.jyb.cn/china/gnxw/201204/t20120414_488334.html

paper.jyb.cn/zgjyb/html/2012-04/14/content_63530.htm

www.qstheory.cn/llzx/201204/t20120414_151017.htm

More information: www.unescobej.org