PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Commonwealth Education Ministers’ Conference Opens in Mauritius (Corrected)
Pailles, Mauritius (PANA) - The three-day 18th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers opened Wednesday at the Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre in Pailles, near the Mauritian capital, Port Louis, with 800 delegates from 40 countries attending.
In his address, Mauritian Deputy Prime Minister Rashid Beebeejaun harped on the importance of investment in education, saying investment in that sector is a moral and ethical imperative and it should remain high on the international agenda.
Beebeejaun said education, besides being a driver for poverty alleviation, also fosters peace and development of human capital, in addition to being a means to attain a competitive edge and prosperity.
Citing global statistics, the Deputy Prime Minister said 61 million children are out of primary school, more than 50 million will still be out of school in 2015 if the current situation persists and that 796 million are illiterate, out of which two-thirds are women.
In the keynote address, Prime Minister of St Lucia Island Kenny Davis Anthony said the world has made impressive strides in education for all with 90% of global enrolment.
He noted that the remaining 10% are usually dispossessed, extremely poor, affected by disability, war and climate-related disasters and their parents are marginalised.
Anthony said poverty can only be overcome through education and appealed to countries to avoid cutting or decreasing expenditure on education.
The St Lucia Premier made five propositions to the global community in a bid to sustain worldwide commitment to education.
They include urging the Commonwealth to plan for better management of global education by expanding opportunities through online programmes and scholarships; the Education and technical skills in all societies to tackle issues such as maternal health and HIV/AIDS; and the need to embrace all stakeholders to the education agenda.
Others are the transformational power of education and the need for access and equity in learning.
For his part, Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said education is central to all sustainable democratic, social and economic advances and that it is pivotal to all that the Commonwealth seeks to achieve.
He recalled that the Commonwealth world of education is exceptionally rich and deep, as shown in the Directory of Commonwealth Education 2012 which is newly-published by the Commonwealth Consortium for Education and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation.
''Contemporary developments in communications technology can help bind Commonwealth education into an interactive network so that information is accessible to all, valuable knowledge becomes shared, good practices become common property, and alliances and partnerships can be forged,'' he said.
The conference ends on Friday.
-0- PANA NA/SEG 29Aug2012
In his address, Mauritian Deputy Prime Minister Rashid Beebeejaun harped on the importance of investment in education, saying investment in that sector is a moral and ethical imperative and it should remain high on the international agenda.
Beebeejaun said education, besides being a driver for poverty alleviation, also fosters peace and development of human capital, in addition to being a means to attain a competitive edge and prosperity.
Citing global statistics, the Deputy Prime Minister said 61 million children are out of primary school, more than 50 million will still be out of school in 2015 if the current situation persists and that 796 million are illiterate, out of which two-thirds are women.
In the keynote address, Prime Minister of St Lucia Island Kenny Davis Anthony said the world has made impressive strides in education for all with 90% of global enrolment.
He noted that the remaining 10% are usually dispossessed, extremely poor, affected by disability, war and climate-related disasters and their parents are marginalised.
Anthony said poverty can only be overcome through education and appealed to countries to avoid cutting or decreasing expenditure on education.
The St Lucia Premier made five propositions to the global community in a bid to sustain worldwide commitment to education.
They include urging the Commonwealth to plan for better management of global education by expanding opportunities through online programmes and scholarships; the Education and technical skills in all societies to tackle issues such as maternal health and HIV/AIDS; and the need to embrace all stakeholders to the education agenda.
Others are the transformational power of education and the need for access and equity in learning.
For his part, Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said education is central to all sustainable democratic, social and economic advances and that it is pivotal to all that the Commonwealth seeks to achieve.
He recalled that the Commonwealth world of education is exceptionally rich and deep, as shown in the Directory of Commonwealth Education 2012 which is newly-published by the Commonwealth Consortium for Education and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation.
''Contemporary developments in communications technology can help bind Commonwealth education into an interactive network so that information is accessible to all, valuable knowledge becomes shared, good practices become common property, and alliances and partnerships can be forged,'' he said.
The conference ends on Friday.
-0- PANA NA/SEG 29Aug2012
