At its founding in 1946, UNESCO put literacy at the top of its education and human rights agenda. More than six decades later, UNESCO maintains the mission statement: "UNESCO is at the forefront of global literacy efforts and is dedicated to keeping literacy high on national, regional and international agendas." This chapter briefly describes how…

This publication presents an overview of the Asia-Pacific Regional Planning Meeting on the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE). Countries in Asia and the Pacific that participate in the LIFE initiative are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea. The purpose of the meeting was to assist…

Describes the use of a polyfunctional system, partially based on modular learning, in developing educational methods aimed to improve the living conditions of people in depressed areas of the world. Notes that the system should consist of series of preconstituted constant learning elements, echoing typical situations and open to adaptations…

Examines the linkage between the global problems of today and the educational problems faced by third world countries. Specifically discussed are educational change in developing countries, the drive against illiteracy, and the democratization of education. Developing countries are on the right road toward solving the problem of education. (RM)

Development must offer people not only release from poverty but also social esteem and political freedom. While knowledge production has exploded, its distribution and use is still limited, especially in the Third World. Literacy is the most promising means of bringing information and technology to common people in developing nations. Each country…

This document presents proposals for goals and strategies for children and development in the 1990s that were approved by the UNICEF Executive Board in April, 1990. The paper proposes that developing human capabilities and meeting basic human needs should be the focus of the UNICEF contribution to the fourth United Nations developmental decade.…

Contemporary cultural and educational changes in the Arab States are reviewed with respect to the effort to liberate Arab countries from illiteracy. The stated objective is to establish common intellectual ground between Arab adult educators (policy-makers, planners, or executive officers) through understanding the social, political, economic, and…

The first section of this paper, focusing on conceptions and applications of educational planning, seeks to identify problems that affect the educational efforts of the nations of the world. Problems in economic and financial, socio-political, and cultural veins are discussed. Section 2 examines the particular educational problems generally faced…

The papers is this volume were presented at the 1981 World Assembly of the International Council of Education for Teaching, attended by representatives from over 35 nations. The papers are organized in seven sections, and all relate to the theme of the assembly, basic skills development. Section I contains one paper, an address on motivating…

This document describes the rationale and the strategy of the new United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Initiative for literacy: LIFE. The Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) is designed as a global strategic framework through which national governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil…

Literacy education efforts of the Summer Institute of Linguistics in all parts of the world are chronicled and illustrated with photographs. Sections address specific issues, including the occurrence and persistence of widespread illiteracy, the role of Unesco's Experimental World Literacy Programme, native language instruction, advancements in…

This annotated guide provides 54 references to materials on international trends in teacher education, including such subjects as educational change, educational technology, literacy instruction, educational quality, global perspectives, teacher recruitment, developing nations, multicultural education, policy development, women's education, and…

Educational curricula have often been shaped more by worldwide standards and modern values than by national or regional influences and may, in some cases, be irrelevant to student and local community needs. This paper explores ways in which curricula can be adapted to a region's specific, social, political, and regional conditions. It begins with…

The "EFA (Education For All) Global Monitoring Report 2006" estimates that about 100 million children of primary school age, 55 percent of them girls, are not enrolled in primary school. UNESCO Bangkok, the Consortium for Street Children and Childhope Asia initiated the "Promotion of Improved Learning Opportunities for Street…

At this regional colloquium 13 papers were presented concerning the relationship between education and employment. Themes addressed were: (1) the transformation of the workplace by technology and science; (2) the future of the disadvantaged population as a consequence of the technological revolution; and (3) the resulting changes in the education…