Education and Training in Ethiopia An Evaluation of Approaching EFA Goals

Declaration of Education for All. The declaration recalled that education is a fundamentalright. The achievement of the EFA goals were to be assessed through the EFA Dakarassessment from 2000. The EFA Dakar assessment is the largest evaluation of basiceducation ever done. The Dakar Framework introduced the following six educationalgoals:1. expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education,especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children;2. ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficultcircumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to andcomplete free and compulsory primary education of good quality;3. ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met throughequitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes;4. achieving a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy by 20015, especially forwomen, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults;5. eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, andachieving 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;and6. improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of allso that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all,especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.The Government of Ethiopia has adopted the goal of ensuring universal access to andcompletion of basic education and reducing the adult illiteracy rate by 2015. During thefollowing years all children should get an access to primary education and during twelveyears, the majority of Ethiopia’s women should receive an education.3.5 Gender in Education PolicyIn the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1948, access to goodqualitybasic education was declared a fundamental human right. Although the worldcommunity has adopted subsequent normative instruments to guarantee that everyonewill enjoy this right, substantial constraints remain on the way to females’ universalprimary education and workforce preparation.The Jomtien World Conference on Education for All (EFA) reaffirmed the right toeducation and paid particular attention to the gender imbalance in the growth of the nonliteratepopulation. Education for girls and women was set as the most urgent priority inattaining the EFA objectives by ensuring access to and improving the quality of educationfor girls and women and by removing every obstacle hampering their active participationin education. TVET, whose recommendations UNESCO has regularly developed andmonitored since the 1960s, was explicitly included in the EFA process in the 1990s.24