FRAMING THE DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVES AND INSTITUTIONAL APPROACHES OF POST-2015 EDUCATION AGENDA

At the turn of the new millennium, nations embarked on pursuing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Education for All (EFA) agendas with the former spearheaded by United Nations (UN) and the latter by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO). Governments were very keen to gain greater heights then as MDGs and EFA were perceived as elements representing a nation’s triumph. As MDGs are broad-based and concerned on improving the livelihood of the people, EFA focuses on championing their educational strengths or competence.

By the end of 2015, many countries had already recorded success on most of the goals with some had even achieved many years earlier. Nevertheless, progress were slow elsewhere especially in less developed countries. These created scenarios of “unfinished business” that drove motivation for an increased engagement through the development of Post-2015 Agenda for both initiatives. With specific goals and targets identified in the form of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN formed the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Meanwhile, EFA was renewed with the adoption of the Muscat Agreement set during the Global Education Meeting in Oman in 2014 which was later known as “Education 2030 Agenda”. Both initiatives are set out until 2030.

Global experts on education have said that we must learn lessons from past experiences when the Education for All (EFA) agenda was implemented and build on them as a new era of post-2015 education paradigm commences. This paper explores on the developmental discourse leading to the establishment of Post-2015 Education Agenda whilst complementary to the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also reflects on the successes of EFA as well as UNESCO’s mobilization on bringing the education agenda forward with the new overarching goal – to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030. This paper reiterates the significance of governments and other stakeholders involved to strategically engaged in the framework for action on education.