Abstract
This paper provides an overview of the progress on achieving basic education for all in Asia and the Pacific and discuss Japan’s possible cooperation with other countries in this area. An international commitment to ‘Education for All (EFA)’ was initiated at the World Conference on EFA held in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990.The global reviews of EFA in 2015 found that further efforts are required to achieve EFA, in particular, ensuring basic education for out-of-school children and illiterate adults as the remaining priority agenda. Main issues of exclusion from basic education include: lack of infrastructure and transportation; lack of quality materials and personnel; poverty; and, socio-cultural factors against education, particularly for girls and women. An international commitment to EFA was renewed under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2014 as one of the 17
development goals to be achieved by 2030. Effective strategies to accelerate basic education for all will be: improving access and quality of formal schooling with focus on the disadvantaged and excluded population groups; developing equivalency programmes to provide alternative learning opportunities for those who are excluded from formal education; and, promoting community-based learning such as Community Learning Centres for individual learning and community development. Japan has been one of the main donors supporting EFA efforts of developing countries in Asia and other regions over the decades. While maintaining such international assistance roles for EFA, Japan should also review domestic challenges of basic education in the country, such as out-of-school children, and develop collaboration mechanisms with other countries. The Japanese Society for the Study of Basic Education and Literacies can play a leading role to initiate inter-country joint research and forums in such areas as literacy, equivalency, and community-based learning under the aging society.
