Qatar Foundation hosts UNESCO's Arab States mid-term review on 'Education for All'

Notes and media contacts

For further media information please call:

Omar Chaikhouni, Media Relations Officer at Qatar Foundation at 5459067.

About Qatar Foundation
Founded in 1995 by His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, and chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development is a private, non-profit organization committed to the principle that a nation's greatest natural resource is its people.

The headquarters of Qatar Foundation are located within its flagship project, Education City, an eight million square-metre campus which hosts numerous progressive learning institutions and centres of research, including branch campuses of five of the world's leading universities, plus a cutting-edge research and development centre. Qatar Foundation also works to enhance the quality of life in Qatar by investing in community health and development.

About UNESCO
UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. Its stated goal is to build peace in the minds of men through education, social and natural science, culture and communication. UNESCO is working to create the conditions for genuine dialogue based upon respect and shared values, and the dignity of each civilization and culture. The world urgently requires global visions of sustainable development based upon observance of human rights, mutual respect and the alleviation of poverty, all of which lie at the heart of UNESCO's mission and activities.

UNESCO functions as a laboratory of ideas and a standard setter to forge universal agreements on emerging ethical issues. The Organization serves as a clearinghouse for the dissemination and sharing of information and knowledge, while helping Member States to build their human and institutional capacities in diverse fields. UNESCO promotes international co-operation in 191 Member States in its fields of competence. For more information, please visit: www.unesco.org

The Six Goals of the EFA

1: Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

2: Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.

3: Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes.

4: Achieving a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.

5: Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.

6: Improving all aspects of the quality and education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognised and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.