ABSTRACT
The World Education Forum held in April 2000 at Dakar, Senegal, set six goals (often known as the Dakar objectives) to be accomplished by each participating state by the year 2015 through their national plans for Education for All (EFA). These six Dakar objectives are: to expand early childhood care and education (ECCE); to provide free and compulsory primary education for all; to promote learning and life skills for young people and adults; to increase adult literacy by 50 per cent; to achieve gender parity by 2005, gender equality by 2015; and to improve the quality of education (UNESCO 2006). While different countries attached varying weightings to these objectives in their national educational policies and plans, Bitoun et al. (2005, pp.2-5) pointed out that the objectives of universal access and educational quality stood out. As regards educational quality, it could be achieved by using three main approaches with the following selected examples (p.5): teacher development through better training, better salaries and career prospects, better standards and working conditions; curriculum reform through making curriculum more performance-oriented and competency-based, providing training enhancing the country’s competitiveness at an international level and articulating the educational and production systems to provide training that enhances social relevance of education; and educational management reform through improving monitoring, assessment and evaluation strategies; enhancing the capacity of educational managers; and reinforcing governance.
