Six Education For All (EFA) goals were agreed to in the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in 2000. Since then, UNESCO Bangkok, UNICEF and the Regional Thematic Working Group on EFA have been jointly assisting countries in conducting assessment of progress and gaps towards the EFA goals and mid-term review of policies and reforms. In October 2005, UNESCO Bangkok's AIMS Unit and APPEAL Unit in cooperation with UNESCO Headquarters and the UNICEF Regional Office organized a regional planning meeting as preparation for mid-decade assessment. This publication is the report of that meeting. The six EFA goals are: (1) Expanding Early Childhood Care and Education; (2) Providing Free and Compulsory Primary Education for All; (3) Promoting Life Skills and Lifelong Learning; (4) Improving Adult Literacy; (5) Achieving Gender Parity and Equality; and (6) Enhancing Education Quality. The meeting report discusses issues of each EFA goal in the regional context, and summarizes results from peer group discussions such as key issues to be assessed and studied, examples of statistics, guidelines for changing policies and reforms, recommendations for assessment and design, suggestions for partnerships, and case studies. The meeting brought together representatives from 21 countries from South, South-East and East Asia to learn about the national and regional EFA mid-decade assessment and to share their feedback on the format, modality, timeline and output of the assessment reports. Apart from helping the participants in preparing for and planning ahead for the assessment, the meeting also discussed directions and guidelines on developing national action plans for capacity building in order to achieve the six EFA goals. The report also provides work planning guidelines for country teams on follow-up work planning. Appended are: (1) Meeting/Workshop Schedule; and (2) List of Participants. (Contains 5 figures and 6 footnotes.) [This document was prepared by UNESCO's Assessment, Information Systems, Monitoring and Statistics (AIMS) Unit and was published by the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education.].

A confluence of scholarly interest has resulted in a revival of Thomistic scholarship across the world. Several areas in the investigation of St. Thomas Aquinas, however, remain under-explored. This volume contributes to two of these neglected areas. First, the volume evaluates the contemporary relevance of St. Thomas's views for the philosophy and practice of education. The second area explored involves the intersections of the Angelic Doctor’s thought and the numerous cultures and intellectual traditions of the East. Contributors to this section examine the reception, creative appropriation, and various points of convergence between St. Thomas and the East.