UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION EXECUTIVE BOARD. Hundred and fifty-fourth Session

Transcription

1 154 EX/INF.3 PARIS, 9 April 1998 English & French only UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION EXECUTIVE BOARD Hundred and fifty-fourth Session Item 3.1 of the provisional agenda REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL ON THE EXECUTION OF THE PROGRAMME ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL CONFERENCE SUMMARY This document contains additional information relating to the execution of the programme and the functioning of the Organization dealt with in document 154 EX/4, Parts I and II.

2 (i) CONTENTS I. Education for All Initiative in the Nine High-Population Countries (145 EX/Decision 4.1)... 1 Page II. Implementation of the Information Resources Development Plan (29 C/Resolution 90)... 4

3 154 EX/INF.3 I. EDUCATION FOR ALL INITIATIVE IN THE NINE HIGH-POPULATION COUNTRIES (145 EX/Decision 4.1) 1. The nine high-population countries (E-9) continue to develop the EFA initiative with a view to achieving the goals set out in the New Delhi Declaration (16 December 1993). The UNESCO field offices in the nine countries provide support to and follow closely the evolution of national EFA policies. In addition, UNESCO offices provide assistance in the implementation of national EFA projects in close collaboration with the EFA partners, especially UNICEF, UNFPA and UNDP. 2. The Bangladesh Government is implementing EFA policies with a very strong component of social mobilization. A special objective is to increase the level of literacy. In this respect intensive efforts are being made to improve the quality of post-literacy materials and provide neo-literates with attractive reading materials. More than one thousand village reading centres (Gram Sikshma Milon Kendra) have been created with funding support from NORAD and SIDA. UNESCO is contributing towards enhancing the training and reading capacities of these centres. 3. In Brazil, the President announced late last year that $500 million will be earmarked for the programme All Children in School, which is designed to enrol 2.7 million children, 7 to 14 years old, and who are not yet attending school. The government is also taking decisive steps towards this end, in particular through such measures as the General Fundamental Law of Education, the National Framework for the Curricula, and the Development Fund for Education and for the Improvement of the Status of the Teacher. It is also taking initiatives to train educational personnel through distance education: a large-scale teacher training project for the Northern region, funded by the World Bank; and a national programme for the training at a distance of school principals, in which UNESCO is also involved. 4. In early 1998, China reported on the latest EFA data, showing the important progress achieved: in net enrolment in primary schools reached per cent, with practically no difference between girls and boys; the drop-out rate was 1.3 per cent only; and in areas inhabited by 90 per cent of the population, primary education has been universalized; also, in 1997, some 91 per cent of full-time primary teachers met the minimum requirements as regards qualifications. The State Education Commission is also implementing a national project for the development of compulsory education in poor areas. To combat illiteracy, especially in distant rural areas where it is still a serious problem, the government is implementing a series of programmes to reduce illiteracy to 5 per cent among adults in the 15 to 35 year age-group. UNESCO is providing full support in implementing several important literacy projects. In addition, with the Japanese funds-in-trust, it is scheduled to organize, in 1998, two seminars: Literacy and continuing education for out-of-school girls and women; and Multichannel learning for illiterate peasant women. The UNESCO Beijing Office has also been asked by UNDP to lead the UNDP task force on basic education in China. 5. Egypt has intensified efforts for EFA by paying special attention to the national programme Reading for All, which is strongly supported by Ms Susan Mubarak, the First Lady of Egypt. Books have been bought or printed and hundreds of new rural libraries have been opened and numerous librarians trained to develop interest in reading. The government considers EFA a matter of national security and intends to improve rapidly the quality of learning by improving the level and scope of teacher-training activities. UNESCO is providing increasing support to programmes using distance education mode for the in-service training of

4 154 EX/INF.3 - page 2 teachers; support is also provided, together with UNICEF and UNDP, to rural literacy programmes focusing on illiterate women. 6. India is moving towards guaranteeing a constitutional right to education. A full range of improvements are foreseen, including the provision of hot mid-day meals to assist the schooling drive - since hunger is cited as one of the reasons for many children, especially girls, to drop out before finishing basic education. In this respect UNESCO plans to step up its joint programmes with WFP to provide mid-day meals to primary-school children. In January 1998, the Director-General visited India, and one of the highlights was his visit to the Lok Jumbish project (People s Movement for EFA) in Rajasthan. One of the achievements of this project is the closing of the gap between schools and the community, and the introduction of Urdu as language of instruction which has led to a massive increase in school attendance; impressive work has been done in establishing village school mapping on cloth - showing for each house in the village the number of boys and girls per family, their age and whether they were attending school or not, so as to facilitate monitoring and promotional work. UNESCO will continue to provide support to this project and especially to programmes catering for children with special needs. Both the Indian authorities and the Director-General referred in their interventions to a draft resolution of the General Conference regarding the creation in New Delhi of a regional resource centre for special education and disadvantaged children. The UNESCO New Delhi Office co-sponsored the second Asia Regional Literacy Forum, held in New Delhi, February 1998, and also provided support to several street-children projects in Calcutta. A UNESCO Chair in teacher education has been set up and one of its activities will be the conduct of comparative research on face-to-face teaching and distance education, and the feasibility of interactive television; a database on materials, institutions and programmes will be established (June 1998). 7. In Indonesia, the UNESCO Jakarta Office is about to terminate a major project: the Indonesian Distance Learning Network, financed by UNDP and implemented together with the Centre for Communication Technology in Education (PUSTEKKOM). This is a nationwide project involving seven ministries. The network has been active for the last four years. A monograph, video and a seminar are planned to disseminate the results of this project. UNESCO is also implementing in three provinces projects pertaining to capacitybuilding at local level for the planning and management of literacy, post-literacy and adult education programmes addressed to marginalized groups in remote areas. 8. The Mexican authorities, at the central and provincial level, continue intensive mobilization campaigns for EFA. For example the province of Guanajuato organized in March 1998 a major educational conference on the theme Education, patrimony and challenge of the third millennium. More than 10,000 teachers and educational personnel participated in a three-day rally focusing on basic education. Senior staff from UNESCO contributed to the success of this event. The Government of Mexico has also offered to be the host of a major E-9 Conference in October 1998 on the role of women as educators and population education. Preparations are under way in Mexico and the other E-9 countries, notably by taking stock of present population education programmes and by mobilizing decision-makers, media, NGOs and experts to cast a fresh look at the role of women in population education activities. 9. In Nigeria, the government continues to provide strong support to the programmes of the National Primary Education Commission, the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education and the National Commission for Nomadic Education, with additional support from the Ministry for Women s Affairs and Family Support Programme.

5 154 EX/INF.3 - page 3 UNESCO, UNICEF and UNDP continue to provide support and technical assistance to these programmes. A special effort has been made by the government to improve the quality of training in the national teachers institutes, especially through distance education. The UNESCO Lagos Office is executing, with support from UNFPA, several population education activities. Strategies have been developed to include population education messages in literacy programmes especially targeted at women in rural areas. 10. The Prime Minister of Pakistan has commissioned a large national consultation on the future orientation of EFA policies. The New Education Policy considers that education and education alone will determine the place of Pakistan in the comity of nations. Education is recognized as the catalyst of change and the force of the future. The following policy objectives have been adopted: (i) admit every child, 6 to 12 years old, in school within five years and attain universal literacy within 15 years; (ii) improve the quality of education and make it more relevant to the job market; (iii) reform the examination system; (iv) establish in each district a model school providing high-quality education. The UNESCO Islamabad Office is particularly active in the field of literacy where several projects are now being implemented, in co-operation with UNICEF and UNDP, and with national and local NGOs.

6 154 EX/INF.3 - page 4 II. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INFORMATION RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT PLAN (29 C/Resolution 90) 1. Resolution 90, adopted by the General Conference at its 29th session, stresses the need to develop information services both within the Organization and for the Member States and invites the Director-General to increase the assistance provided to National Commissions for that purpose. 2. For many years the Secretariat has endeavoured to supplement the efforts of Member States to improve the functioning of the National Commissions - in particular in the least developed countries and new Member States - by providing them with financial or technical assistance designed to improve their working conditions. During the two preceding biennia, nearly $2 million was allocated for that purpose under the Participation Programme. That amount was used essentially to purchase equipment and materials, including informatics equipment, for the National Commissions. The Director-General will continue to pay special attention during the biennium to requests by Member States under the Participation Programme, with a view to enabling the National Commissions to make use of all the information and data made available to them by UNESCO and to strengthen their capacity to communicate among themselves. 3. Furthermore, as provided under the Approved Programme and Budget for , efforts will also be made to facilitate the access of National Commissions, especially in the developing countries, to the electronic communication media (in particular the Internet) and to encourage the formation of networks for co-operation among National Commissions for the execution of joint projects. In that spirit, in accordance with 29 C/Resolution 61, the Organization will provide support for the operation of a regional information network linking the 36 National Commissions of Latin America and the Caribbean. Launched after a feasibility study carried out with UNESCO support, the network is the first experience of its type, which can probably be extended to other regions. 4. Some National Commissions - more than half a dozen at present - already have their own sites linked to the UNESCO website. The Secretariat, in co-operation with private sector and other partners, will encourage the National Commissions to create new sites, and help them to gain access to the Internet. 5. Lastly, it is suggested that the new Standing Committee of National Commissions, composed of their Secretaries-General and of members of the Secretariat, which was set up with the approval of the General Conference, should consider these questions with a view to formulating a comprehensive plan and studying appropriate financing arrangements.