Nearly a quarter century ago, the Education for All (EFA) movement was born in Jomtien, Thailand. Delegates from around the world signed the Declaration on Education for All, an historic commitment to “meet the basic learning needs of all” by universalizing primary education and slashing illiteracy rates.

Ten years later, in 2000, the six EFA goals, covering all aspects of basic education from early learning and adult literacy to education quality, were formalized at the World Education Forum in Dakar and a deadline to reach those targets of 2015 was set.

Since 2000, the year 2015 has emerged as the horizon toward which the world projects its aspirations to achieve the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals. While accelerating efforts to achieve these goals, the United Nations has been mobilizing the world to define the post-2015 development agenda. In this process, UNESCO and UNICEF have been working with a wide array of stakeholders to reflect on education beyond 2015.

The consultations so far have indicated that the direction of the post-2015 education agenda is to be anchored in a lifelong and sector-wide perspective, addressing access and results, equity and quality for all – children, youth and adults - from early childhood care and education to higher education and adult learning, and in formal, non-formal and informal learning. UNESCO’s General Conference, which met in November 2013, also committed itself to promote an overarching goal for education “based upon key principles of access, equity, quality, in the perspective of lifelong learning” as part of the future global development agenda. Read more