In accordance with resolutions made during the Global Education Forum in Dakar on Education For All (EFA), the Regional Office of UNESCO in Dakar organized on Tuesday November 9 2004, the launching ceremony of the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005.

The ceremony was held in the auditorium of BREDA/ UNESCO in Dakar, in presence of the Senegalese Minister of Education, Professor Moustapha Sourang and about over eighty participants, mainly patrons of EFA and social, technical and financial partners such as UNICEF, UNDP, the World Bank, the African Development Bank (ADB), the Federation of Parents Teachers Association of Senegal, the National Coalition of the Civil Society of Senegal and members of the Press.

The launching ceremony of the report entitled "Education for All a Quality Imperative" was aimed at sharing information on the accomplishments made towards EFA objectives, as well as difficulties encountered by countries in order reinforce the commitment of partners. More precisely, it was about informing people of countries concerned about progress made as well as difficulties and reinforce the mobilization of governments and social, technical and financial partners in achieving the six objectives set during the Dakar Forum.

Welcoming participants to the workshop on behalf of the Director of UNESCO/ BREDA, Mr. Benoit Sossou, Head of the Education Department underlined the fact that the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005, the third of its kind, is dedicated to quality education. This fixation, he pointed out, is based on one of the six objectives set during the Dakar Forum that is "improving every aspect of the quality of education, and ensuring their excellence so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skill". According to Mr. Sossou, it is necessary to redouble efforts on the country level as well as among technical and financial partners, because despite efforts made, twenty-one African countries are still far from achieving EFA goals. Finally he stressed that the report must serve as reference in enlightening international and national decision makers in formulating and implementing important reform policies for quality education centered on the well-being of our societies.

The Minister of Education, Professor Moustapha Sourang, also mentioning the gap of African countries from objectives set, stressed that to achieve the goal of education for all, it is particularly important to insure that all children go to school, finish elementary cycle and acquire basic minimum competences. "If our countries have made much progress towards the first objective, more has to be done concerning the last two" he said. Achieving the last two objectives, closely related to a quality approach, mainly involves quality determinants such as the provision of textbooks, the reduction of the size of classes, the improvement of learning time and pedagogical practices, reading in school and in families, as well as health and nutrition.

Discussions were held after the presentation of the report, followed by a press conference jointly offered by the Minister of Education, the representative of the Director of UNESCO/BREDA and the UNICEF Resident Representative in Senegal.