The three-day review meeting of Ministers of Education and heads of delegation of the E-9 countries comprising India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria and Mexico ended in New Delhi on 10 November 2012 with the adoption of the New Delhi Commitment. E-9 nations decided to expand their cooperation in Inclusive, Relevant Quality Education for All. It took stock of the progress towards the Education for All goals and to renew cooperation in consolidating the gains and addressing remaining challenges.
The member-states reaffirmed the central role of education in all development endeavours and in promoting peace and social cohesion. E-9 Countries decided to expand their cooperation in the area of Inclusive, Relevant Quality Education for All. They recognised relevance and equity as key dimensions of quality in their future efforts and resolved to address the same by making their education systems more flexible and responsive.
The E-9 Initiative, Background:
The E-9 Initiative was launched in 1993 at the EFA Summit of the Nine High-Population Countries in New Delhi, India. The “E” stands for education and the “9” represents the nine highly populated countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan. Given that these countries were home not only to over half of the world’s population but also to more than 70 percent of the world’s adult illiterates, about two-third of whom are women and girls, and more than half of its out-of-school children, any significant progress made in these countries immediately would have positive impact on EFA. It was (and still is) rational to prioritise a group of highly populated countries for the attainment of EFA. The E-9 countries also face common challenges such as decentralization and quality assurance. Hence, the heads of E-9 countries signed the Delhi Declaration and showed their commitment to achieving EFA. Since that time, the E-9 Initiative has become a forum for these nine countries to discuss their experiences related to education, exchange best practices and monitor EFA-related progress. It has also become a powerful driver for EFA and South-South Cooperation.
Since the launch of the initiative, the E-9 countries have made significant socioeconomic progress. Mexico has become an OECD member, while China is now the second largest economy in the world. Brazil and India are also the top ten economies and expected to be the top five economies in the coming decades. Indonesia has also been growing fast and now is a G-20 country. In 1993, the E-9 countries accounted for only 16.5% of world’s nominal GDP. Now, they represent almost 30% of world’s nominal GDP. Some E-9 countries, such as Brazil, China, India and Mexico, have emerged as aid donors and are seen to exercise leadership not only in the E-9 Initiative but all aspects of EFA.
The E-9 countries have also made advancement in the six EFA goals. Between 1999 and 2009, the gross enrolment rate in pre-primary education increased. During the same period, the net enrolment rate in primary education improved from 84% to 89% as the number of out-of-primary school children within the E-9 countries was reduced from almost 50 million to less than 30 million between 1999 and 2009. Youth and adult literacy grew better from 85% to 89% and 76% to 79% respectively. The gender parity indices (the rate of girls to boys in school) ameliorated from 0.92 to 0.97 at the primary level and 0.96 to 0.97 at the secondary level. Two-thirds of the E-9 countries now have over a 90% net enrolment rate in primary education. Adult literacy rates are also above 90% in Brazil, China, Indonesia and Mexico.
Despite these positive outcomes, a number of problems remain to be tackled. The E-9 countries still represent two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults and 42% of the world’s out-of-school children. Along with the quantity, the issue of the quality of education remains to be addressed: the vast majority of children do not receive quality instruction and leave school without acquiring basic skills in these countries due to a number of factors such as teacher development, curriculum and learning environment. Therefore, it is still essential to tackle educational problems of these countries for achieving EFA.
In order to accelerate efforts towards EFA, the E-9 countries work together primarily based on the action frameworks agreed upon during the biennial Ministerial Review Meetings. Since 1993, the Ministers of Education from the E-9 countries have held eight Ministerial Review Meetings to debate selected themes of common interest:
| Event | Theme |
| Eighth E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting Abuja, Nigeria, June 2010 | Literacy for development |
| Seventh E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting Bali, Indonesia, March 2008 | Improvement of teacher education and training as a focus of educational system reform |
| Sixth E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting Monterrey, Mexico, February 2006 | Assessment of quality in education |
| Fifth E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting Cairo, Egypt, December 2003 | Early childhood care and education |
| Fourth E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting Beijing, China, August 2001 | The role and use of distance education and information technologies in basic education |
| Third E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting Recife, Brazil, January 2000 | E-9 countries 2000 EFA assessments: New avenues for action |
| Second E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting Islamabad, Pakistan, September 1997 | Social and political mobilization |
| First E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting Bali, Indonesia, September 1995 | From Delhi to Bali |
| New Delhi Summit on EFA New Delhi, India, December 1993 | The Delhi Declaration and Framework for Action |
In addition to these regular conferences, the E-9 ministers meet and dialogue whenever there is an opportunity, such as during the annual EFA meetings and the sessions of UESCO’s General Conference.
In 2004, a Chair of the E-9 Initiative was established with the support of UNESCO in order to improve follow-up, coordination and continuity in-between meetings. The Chair has been held by Egypt, Mexico, Indonesia and, since 2010, Nigeria.
While the E-9 countries have ownership over activities pledged during the Ministerial Review Meetings, the rotational E-9 Chair, along with UNESCO Secretariat, takes leadership of coordination. UNESCO provides technical support and helps the E-9 countries review progress of the ongoing activities during occasions such as bimonthly meetings, teleconferences, senior official meetings and written reports.
During the last biennium, in light of insufficient gains towards EFA Goal 4 on adult literacy by 2015, the Government of Nigeria and UNESCO convened the Eighth Ministerial Review Meeting on EFA in Abuja, Nigeria (June 2010) focused on the theme of ‘Literacy for Development.’ The E-9 countries currently make efforts to implement the Abuja Framework for Action and Cooperation and periodically review their progress through meetings and teleconferences.
A number of activities within the framework have been launched or are in process, such as the Revitalizing Adult and Youth Literacy Programme by Nigeria, the International Seminar on Improving Female Literacy in Cooperation with Women NGOs by Indonesia and preparations for an International Conference on Literacy for Inclusive and Sustainable Development by India. In order to continue the momentum on these l activities and to ensure their achievement, a Senior Officials Meeting was hosted by Nigeria in December 2011.
The low quality of education, including that of literacy, has long been a key challenge facing EFA. While many countries have successfully enrolled millions of learners in schools, a significant majority of them are actually not learning, at least, not to levels commensurate to their educational attainment. The challenge persisits, and the EFA quality goals are dauntingly off track. Thus, addressing the issue of quality will be on the top of the future education agenda.
During the 36th General Conference of UNESCO in 2011, the E-9 Ministers Meeting reached a consensus that quality education, inclusive of everyone where the content is relevant to learners, is vitally important in all E-9 countries. In this context, the E-9 Meeting on Teacher Development for Inclusive Quality Education in New Delhi, India on 31 May 2012 was held to address the issue of insufficient quality of teaching.
The Ninth E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting will be held in New Delhi, India on 9-10 November 2012. The focus of this meeting will be “Inclusive, Relevant and Quality Education for All.” India will hold the Chair after the 2012 E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting.
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