Education For All (EFA) Program

What is Education For All Program?

The Philippine Education For All ( EFA) is a vision and a holistic program of reforms that aims at improving the
quality of basic education for every Filipino.

Overall Goals and Objective of Philippine EFA

1. Universal coverage of out of School Youth (OSY) and adults in the provision of basic learning needs;
2. Universal school participation and elimination of drop outs and repetition in first three grades;
3. Universal completion of full cycle of basic education schooling with satisfactory achievement levels by all at
every grade or year;
4. Total community commitment to attainment of basic education competencies for all.

Real Dimensions of EFA

EFA aims to provide basic competencies to everyone to achieve functional literacy for all. The four components
outcomes to achieve EFA goals are as follows:

1. Universal Coverage of out-of-school youths and adults in the provision of basic learning needs. All persons who
failed to acquire the essential competence to be functionally literate in their native tongue, in Filipino, and in
English.
2. Universal school participation and elimination of drop-outs and repetition in the first three grades. All children
aged six should enter school ready to learn and prepared to achieve the required competencies for grades 1 to 3.
3. Universal completion of full cycle of basic education schooling satisfactory achievement levels by all at every
grade and year.
4. Total community commitment to attainment of basic education competencies for all: Every community should
mobilize all its social, political, cultural, and economic resources and capabilities to support the universal attainment
of basic education competencies in Filipino and English.

Nine Urgent and Critical Tasks

1. Make every school continuously improve its performance.
2. Expand early childhood care and development coverage to yield more EFA benefits.
3. Transform existing non-formal and informal learning options into a truly viable alternative learning system
yielding more EFA benefits;
4. Get all the teachers to continuously improve their teaching practices.
5. Increase the cycle of schooling to reach 12 years of formal basic education.
6. Continue enrichment of curriculum development in the context of pillars of new functional literacy:
7. Provide adequate and stable public funding for country-wide attainment of EFA goals;
8. Create network of community-based groups for local attainment of EFA goals: Monitor progress in effort towards
attainment of EFA goals.

LARGER STAKES TO THE NATION

1. Language. Education for all should enable everyone to speak in the vernacular, Filipino and English.
2. National Identity. Education should not only develop critical thinking, but also enlarge horizons and inspire self
reflection and hope in every generation.
3. Social Capital. Education for all builds social capital. It makes possible the achievement of certain ends that
would not otherwise be attainable in its absence.
4. Cultural Practices. Cultural values can be highly productive component of social capital, allowing communities
and the whole country to efficiently restrain opportunism and resolve problems or collective action such as
individual refusal to serve the public good, etc.
5. Individual freedom. Education for all is really about assuring the capacity to fully exercise freedom by all.

Source: Philippine Education For All ( EFA) National Action Plan 2015