Basic education plan ratified

The Government of Equatorial-Guinea on Friday ratified its National Plan for Education For All for the period 2002-2015, in line with the recommendations of the 2002 Dakar Conference on the Education For All, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. Under the plan, the country's education system will give priority to basic education, especially pre-school and primary education, and to girls' education, to discourage rampant marriages and pregnancies, among other reasons. Under the plan, Equatorial Guinea - a country with a 70 precent illiteracy - will strive to ensure free basic education for all, UNICEF stated. Health education is also to be introduced, while technical and professional subjects will be introduced in the secondary schools, the agency said. Equatorial Guinea is the first country in the central African sub-region to ratify such a plan. The ratification ceremony was presided over by the prime minister [Candido Muatetema Rivas], it added. The UNICEF representative for Equatorial-Guinea, Gabon and Sao Tome, Kristian Lauberg, said that the positive results seen by Equatorial-Guinea in development and education should encourage it further. Lauberg said his agency would support the government to implement the education plan, in order to increase access to quality education, ensure the protection and the development of children, and reduce illiteracy. UNICEF was also supporting the plan as part of its efforts to promote the education of girl-children and reduce the disparity between boys and girls in the education system, he added.