ABSTRACT

Although education was accorded the status of a basic human right by the United Nations in 1948, much remains to be done to ensure universal enjoyment of that right. It is generally held that education (i.e. formal schooling) is positively associated with human development: it has long been seen as an engine to drive economic growth; create a productive labour force, improved health and controlled fertility. Education’s expected role in nation building is also reflected in the way many developing countries, once liberated from colonial rule, pledged to provide universal primary

education. Commitments to providing Education For All (EFA) were made at the World Conference on Education For All in Jomtien, 1990, and reaffirmed in Dakar in 2000. They have become headline news with the incorporation of universal primary education as the second Millennium Development Goal, to be achieved by 2015.