PRESS RELEASE (79/10)
12th August 2010

A strategy for the implementation of the Pacific Education Development Framework (PEDF) endorsed by Forum Education Ministers’ Meeting last year has been discussed at a meeting of senior education officials in Forum island countries, regional and international organisations and development partners underway in Nadi, Fiji.

The meeting was presented with the processes that will be undertaken in the implementation of the PEDF which will include baseline and proposed activities in regards to the priorities of the Framework.
 

“The baseline activities would include a baseline survey questionnaire that has been sent to the countries and countries are responding, regional consultation and country strategic planning. Baseline data is crucial in this activity. The proposed activities are to include establishing national activities, survey of country status in relation to PEDF priorities, and analysis of gaps at country level,” said Filipe Jitoko, the Forum Secretariat’s Social Policy Adviser, who is chairing the meeting.

Mr Jitoko said: “The meeting noted that regional consultation activities would revolve around determining regional initiatives under PEDF, making proposals and recommendations to Forum Education Ministers’ Meeting (FEdMM) and to monitor and assess progress at regional and country levels.”

“As part of regional support, there is a need to assess National Strategic plans in relation to PEDF priorities. For sustainability, countries will need to include PEDF priorities into country strategic plans. Inclusive in this was the need to work with development partners in resourcing national activities especially in capacity building, mobilising resources and monitoring of country progress,” said Mr Jitoko.
 

In October 2005 the Forum Leaders endorsed the Pacific Plan with the goal of enhancing and stimulating economic growth, sustainable development, good governance and security for Pacific countries through regionalism. Improved education and training is one of the strategic objectives of the Plan in support of this goal. At their 2007 meeting, the Education Ministers decided that, given the seven years since the Forum Basic Education Action Programme (FBEAP) 2001, a comprehensive evaluation should be undertaken of FBEAP during 2008. A review of FBEAP was also seen as being able to contribute constructively to the Pacific Plan, also being reviewed in 2008.
 

The extensive consultative process of the Review recommended a reborn regional plan with a new title. Following extensive discussion, and consideration by Ministers at the FEdMM in Tonga in 2009, it was agreed that the revised document be referred to as a framework, rather than an action plan. Accordingly an outcome of the Review is that the revised document be known as the Pacific Education Development Framework (PEDF).
 

The Framework is grounded in two sets of imperatives. First the commitments made by Pacific countries to global education calls for action and second, the national and regional response to the specific needs and challenges in respect of education in the Pacific region. The global commitments include the Education for All (EFA) agenda and goals, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) relating directly or indirectly to education, the United Nations Literacy Decade and also the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. At the national level in most countries, these international commitments have been mainstreamed into the sectoral planning process. The challenges and needs that Pacific Island countries are experiencing as they attempt to bring about improvement in their education systems have been comprehensively analysed and documented as part of the review of FBEAP in 2008.
 

The PEDF addresses two broad agendas. First, the Education for All (EFA) or basic education agenda which covers the foundation of education, and second the training/employment/economic agenda. This second agenda was the genesis of the original meeting of Education Ministers through the referral from leaders on the basis of recommendations from Economic Ministers. It has recently been highlighted as a priority for Pacific education and training systems by the Forum Leaders in their Niue communiqué. By being explicitly grounded in these two agendas the PEDF is well aligned with the Pacific Plan, a need also identified in the FBEAP Review. In this Framework basic education is interpreted in broad terms consistent with the common UNESCO usage (allowing countries to interpret/modify as appropriate to their own contexts). The framework embraces TVET in the widest sense. As a result the Framework includes all sectors of education with the exception of higher education.

The PEDF is aligned with, and is grounded in, the core planning principles and concepts of the Pacific Plan. As Improved Education and Training is one of the strategic objectives of the Pacific Plan, the PEDF supports the Leaders’ Vision of a region of peace, harmony, security and economic prosperity in which Pacific people can lead free and worthwhile lives.

The Framework reflects the Pacific concept of regionalism where countries work together for their joint and individual benefit. Regional aspects of the PEDF are designed to support and complement national programmes, not inhibit them. The justification for any regional strategies advocated in the PEDF is that they add value to national efforts. The PEDF identifies key priorities in each of the sub-sectors of education and training and also for each of a number of cross-cutting themes. These priorities which arise from international commitments such as the MDGs and EFA goals and the national education sector strategic frameworks have been documented in the FBEAP Review conducted in 2008. Accordingly the PEDF embraces a ‘bottom up’ approach to education sector development and planning, complemented by a ‘top down’ perspective based on global commitments and the regional Pacific Plan endorsed by the Forum Leaders. The PEDF addresses the special needs of Small Island States (SISs) which have been prioritised in the Pacific Plan and also the MDGs.
 

The three-day meeting in Nadi will end tomorrow with a set of recommendations to be submitted to the Forum Education Ministers’ Meeting to be held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in October
 

ENDS
 

For media enquiries, contact Mr Johnson Honimae, the Forum Secretariat’s Media Officer on phone 679 9458763 or email: johnsonh@forumsec.org.fj