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"MEETING GLOBAL CHALLENGES IN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION":
The Implication of Globalization for Educational Development
Keynote address by His Excellency:
Professor Michael Abiola OMOLEWA
President of UNESCO General Conference
and Ambassador plus Permanent Delegate of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria to UNESCO
at Babcock University Academic Congregation Colloquium
Ogun State, Nigeria: Tuesday, August 16, 2005
I want to thank Professor Kayode Makinde and the entire team that invited me here to
make a presentation on such topical subject of continued relevance and profound interest.
I give Glory to the LORD Who Himself established the institution and has given me the
privilege to be here.
INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES:
Africa has been in search of an effective education delivery strategy for many decades.
Independence led to the integration of the continent into the global village of shared
assistance and networking. It therefore introduced the continent to an opportunity to
experiment and to renew educational activities and programmes. Some of the major
initiatives have been the commitments made in Bombay in 1952, Cairo in 1954, Lima in
1956, Jomtien in 1990 and Dakar 2000.
It is important to know that the global incursion into education had also partly manifested
itself in the Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which stipulates that
everyone has the right to education, which shall be free, at least in the elementary and
fundamental stages.It also added that in addition, education shall foster the full
development of the human personality and strengthen the respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms.Globalization has also led to increased demand for higher education
in a competitive world and has encouraged the establishment of centres of excellence and
the promotion of quality learning.
The key players in global education, UNESCO the World Bank, the UNDP and UNICEF provided
during the International Forum for Education in Dakar in April 2000 a commitment, a
platform and an impetus for achieving the six goals of what has become known as the Dakar
Framework for Action. The goals are:
i: expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education,
especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children;
ii: ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in
difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have
access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality;
iii: ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met
through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes;
iv: achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015,
especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education
for all adults;
v: eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by
2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus
on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic
education of good quality;
vi: improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring
excellence of all so that recognised and measurable learning
outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy
and essential life skills.
To this has been added The United Nations Literacy Decade, as an integral component of
Education for All, launched in 2002. Developing countries now have the opportunities to
develop their literacy activities for the benefit of the people by the formal launching
of the United Nations Literacy Decade on February 13, 2003 and which will go on till 2012.
National governments, local authorities, international agencies and all stakeholders are
to ensure that by the end of the Literacy Decade, the Literacy for All thrust of Education
for All will yield the expected outcomes. These outcomes include:
* Significant progress toward the 2015 Dakar goals (iii), (iv) and (v), in
particular, and a recognisable increase in the absolute numbers of those
who are literate among women - accompanied by reduction in gender
disparities; excluded pockets in countries that are otherwise considered
having high literacy rates; regions of greatest needs, namely, sub-Saharan
Africa, South Asia and E-9 countries;
* Attainment by all learners, including children in school, of a mastery
level of learning in reading, writing, numeracy, critical thinking,
positive citizenship values and other life skills;
* Dynamic literate environments, especially in schools and communities
of the priority groups, so that literacy will be sustained and expanded
beyond the Literacy Decade;
* Improved quality of life (poverty reduction, increased income,
improved health, greater participation, citizenship awareness and
gender sensitivity) among those who have participated in the various
educational programmes under EFA.
There is also the United Nations Decade for Sustainable Development. The Millennium Development
Goals deal with specific gains that can improve the lives of the poor people in the world by
2015. The aim is to reduce poverty while improving health, education, and the environment.
The goals were endorsed by 189 countries at the September 2000 UN Millennium General Assembly
in New York. They provide a focus for the efforts of the World Bank Group, governments, and
other partners in the development community. Each goal is to be achieved by 2015, compared
to 1990 levels:
1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger:
* Halve the proportion of people with
less than one dollar a day.
* Halve the proportion of people who
suffer from hunger.
2: Achieve universal primary education:
* Ensure that boys and girls alike
complete primary schooling.
3: Promote gender equality and empower women:
* Eliminate gender disparity at
all levels of education.
4: Reduce child mortality:
* Reduce by two thirds the
under-five mortality rate.
5: Improve maternal health:
* Reduce by three-quarters
the maternal mortality ratio.
6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
* Reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
7: Ensure environmental sustainability:
* Integrate sustainable development
into country policies and reverse
loss of environmental resources.
* Halve the proportion of people
without access to potable water.
* Significantly improve the lives of
at least 100 million slums dwellers.
8: Develop a global partnership for development:
* Raise official development assistance.
* Expand market access.
* Encourage debt sustainability.
LIMITATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT:
We have observed that there are currently no adequate provisions of educational facilities
that could enhance high standards in Sub-Saharan Africa. Illiteracy rates are high, school
enrolment rates are low, and school dropout rates are high. There is, however, growing
consensus that education is an important vehicle for sustainable development-especially
for marginalised segments of the population such as females, the poor, and those living
in remote rural areas. The right to a basic education is also now well-enshrined in
international commitments and conventions. Education is central to individual empowerment,
the elimination of poverty at the household and community level, and broader social and
economic development.
However, as I have tried to argue elsewhere, globalisation has its own constraints and
challeges. There is no doubt that globalization by its very nature constitutes a challenge
to the diversity of cultures. It is a fact that globalization can bring to cultures certain
enrichment and even opportunities for desirable cultural growth in a world that is impelled
by the development, or should I say the galloping development of innovative instruments of
communication and information, which are becoming more and more indispensable every day.
We must not shy away from these advantages. We cannot. We must embrace them, but with
caution … With our eyes opened! For we must also be alert to the likely negative effects
of globalization, especially in its steam – rolling aspects, which often brings with it
tendencies towards homogenization and the compression of cultures by the force of some
dominant and often alien trends. In an environment of true respect for the diversity of
cultures and concern for the aspirations and sensibilities that are proper to the
specificities of cultural differences, the interaction between gloablization and cultures
could be the source of enrichment and not that of inevitable conflict. But this must be
predicated on commonality of intentions.
The present Medium Term Plan of UNESCO (the 31 C4), which is now on its last leg, has as
its theme “Globalization with a human face”. It was the articulation of UNESCO’s plans for
facing its responsibility of making every effort to contribute to the attenuation of some
of the likely negative effects of Globalization especially as concerns weak and vulnerable
nation and societies.
There is no doubt that cultural diversity has been assaulted by globalization and that
globalization has challenged multi-lateralism. The question of course is who benefits
from globalization and who looses by the discontinuance of diversity and multi-lateralism?
The truth is that the United Nations was founded on the principle of multi-lateralism and
respect for diversity. Diversity therefore must remain inevitable for the promotion of
equity, justice and respect for different levels of development in the International
Committee of Nations. A globalization which seeks to confirm the dominance and the
hegemony of the powerful and the strong will inevitably collapse within the context
of the United Nations.
It is to this end that we must draw the attention to the prophetic publication of John
Raiston Saul titled: The Collapse of Globalism and the Reinvention of the World. Mr.
Saul had eloquently argued that globalization which saw everything through an economic
prison especially trade prison was destined to fail because the world could no longer
be seen only in terms of economic circumstances or considerations. He therefore argues
that the ideology of globalization is currently in retreat as governments are
increasingly rediscovering their power to legislate and regulate for the benefit of
their citizens outside the narrow confines of matters beyond economic considerations.
It is clear that diversity, as demonstrated by the wealth of languages can both divide
and unite. But it is also clear that pluralism is itself the strength. As the Yoruba put
it, ‘ona kan o wo ja’ which means that there are many paths that lead to the market place.
UNESCO as an organisation is by its charter committed to the promotion of diversity and
at the same time the encouragement and promotion of international values and standards.
I believe that it is within this context that the organisation has adopted the Convention
for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. I also belief that it was
against this background of commitment that the organisation had prepared together with
the OECD the guidelines on Cross Border Higher Education which has been considered by
the Executive Board of the organisation and forwarded to the 33rd Session of the General
Conference of UNESCO. It is therefore also within this context that the Convention on
Cultural Diversity is being proposed by the organisation.
Let it be clear that the world need a system of check and balances that will ensure
ownership and check the threat of hegemony in the process of building ‘one world’ as
Mahatma Gandhi once said: “I will not want to live in the world that was not one world”.
It was such vision that gave birth to the United Nations and its sister organisations
such as UNESCO. Thus in spite of whatever threat is posed by hegemony, at the end of
the day everyone will appreciate the value of inclusiveness, democratisation, and
active participation by all.
The impression must therefore not be given that globalization has an all-pervasive force
or influence, or that it is the international community that can move the development of
a nation forward. Indeed it is the contrary situation. Thus nations are best situated
and able to move their own people and, by extension, also the international society
forward. As an African proverb has put it, eleru to m’eru re gbe: it is the owner of
a luggage that better knows how to carry it. Another proverb seems to have confirmed
the statement with observation from the practice of Ife divination where you read your
own destiny by the display of the various options before you: owo ara eni ni a fi ntu
iwa ara eni se you alone are in a better position to use your own hands to alter
your destiny.
If we are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and halve the proportion of people
living in abject poverty by 2015, we need to do more than just increase the level of
enrolment in schools and address the subject of the content and quality of educational
programmes. This of course also demands an increase in development assistance. This is
only achievable if African countries can attract foreign direct investment, increase
their proportion of international trade, put increased resources into social sectors
like health and education and demonstrate transparency in key areas of political
and economic governance.
We may illustrate this statement with the development in Nigeria where the Universal
primary education and its gender equality component are recognised by official policy
as the foundation upon which to build sustainable life-long learning. This policy is
now being vigorously pursued, and offers reading, writing and numeracy skills to
teeming populations who lack basic education. Basic Education in Nigeria includes
primary, junior secondary and nomadic education as well as adult literacy. Basic
Education is aimed at equipping individuals with such knowledge, skills and
attitudes that will enable them:
i: live meaningful and fulfilling lives;
ii: contribute to the development of the society
iii: derive maximum social, economic and cultural
benefits from the society; and
iv: discharge their civic obligations competently.
But clearly it has become obvious that in addition to achieving the increased enrolment
and retention for the primary and secondary levels of education., Nigeria must at the
same time go a step further. Literacy, useful as it is, is only a foundation, a first
step. Africa must address the subject of secondary and tertiary education so as not to
remain a developing region in the world forever and ever. This is because these two
other levels strengthen the foundation provided by primary education through research
and reflection. Indeed the quality of teachers as critical players in the development
initiatives is of crucial importance, hence the emphasis on the capability and capacity
of Universities that produce them.
We have to accept as forward progressing Africans that it will be unacceptable for us
to wait until the global village ask us to move on the ladder of educational development.
Specifically, the developing world, and in particular Africa should not be relegated to
just the basic education level while other nations are strengthening and sharpening
their own secondary and tertiary levels of education. The danger is that we can remain
hewers of wood and drawers of water, all over again.
We therefore need to emphasise high quality teacher training programmes that will assist
sustainable development to flourish in Africa, and demand a massive reform in secondary
and tertiary education systems. This becomes necessary in order to guarantee quality,
self-confidence, innovation, and originality of the mind of the African in the face of
globalisation and increased competition in the world. For the teacher is the key to the
development of education as the instrument for teaching and learning and for measuring
performance in learning. The status of the teacher very early at the inception of
western education was as a promoter of knowledge, a disseminator of information, a
depository of learning, a reference and resource for information, a model of
discipline. In deed as was known at the time, the society could hardly do without
the teacher. Even when their status had declined it remains a truism to submit that
it is the teacher that still excels in the building of the mind of the learner and
that the society owes the teacher for breeding the generation of professionals and
performers in every facet of activity in any given nation. The teacher continues to
touch lives perhaps more than any other professional. The training of the teacher is
therefore of paramount importance. Perhaps this is why the Bible says that no one can
arise above the level of the teacher and St James has advised that not many people
should be encouraged to become teachers.
A reform in tertiary education becomes necessary in order to create the learning society
with a greater concern for the conditions in which adults and young people will value
learning and thus be motivated to continue learning throughout their lives. Education is
society’s means of communicating and holding what is felt to be of particular value. It is
also the means of preparing for the new, the unexpected, the unintended, and the unpredictable.
In that vision, the educated person is not the one who has achieved a particular standard but
rather the person who is committed to learning as a part of life. There is considerable belief
that humankind has to embrace sustainable development if it wants to secure its survival.
There is also agreement that education plays a crucial part in achieving this transition.
It follows then that education for sustainable development should go beyond the acquisition
of basic literacy alone. It should consider a massive reform of education at the primary,
secondary, tertiary levels.
There is the need to look to the future and turn our attention to the challenges, which that
future presents. We must face and critically examine some key challenges in order to bring
about desirable reforms in education that lead to sustainable development. These include
overhauling the present curriculum content and addressing the issues of prioritisation and
compartmentalisation of "subjects" at both secondary and tertiary levels. The kind of reform
being proposed in the curriculum requires rethinking, re-evaluation and reappraisal of what
we are currently offering and how relevant these could be to face the challenges of the
twenty-first century.
We need to develop adequate, efficient and effective training programmes and materials for
teachers and educators. This is because there is the need to raise their awareness of their
roles to the society in the educational process, with a view to providing them with effective
strategies for learning Other reforms that we must think about should include the extent to
which the administration of the two tiers should either be centralised or decentralised in
order to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. Africa must continue to see secondary and
tertiary levels of education as investment. Towards this end the education systems must be
inclusive and should prepare both young and old for the life they would live. In short the
reform in secondary and tertiary levels of education in conjunction with literacy or basic
education must be in conformity with the Faure's report (1972). In introducing the concept
of a learning society in the final section of the report, Faure identifies a radical change
in "the very nature of the relationship between society and education". This implies that
every citizen should have the means of learning, training and achieving his or her optimum
level socially, politically, economically, culturally and spiritually through adequate
provision of education.
The picture remains gloomy for many countries of Sub Saharan Africa seeking universal access
to basic education, ensuring gender equality and equity and providing adequately trained,
competent teachers to facilitate education delivery for the 21st Century Africa. The solution
should be to work together in partnership, in mutual trust and respect would be the only way
to achieve the dreams of development as illustrated recently in the Live8 concert to eliminate
hunger and poverty in Africa and in the deliberations at the G8 in the UK. These developments
must give us optimism that the load that we begin to carry will yield positive results in Africa.
Governments have been wise in inviting private ownership and control of university education as
demonstrated by the increasing number of private universities across Africa.
We believe that the task can still be done giving the current goodwill
for Africa, and the increasing focus on educational development as
priority attention by all stakeholders.
I thank you very much for your attention and God bless you!
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