President Mbeki inaugurates sub-Saharan
conference on Education for All
|
| Johannesburg,
6 December 1999 - The sub-Sahara regional conference on
Education for All (EFA) opened in Johannesburg on Monday, with
South African President Thabo Mbeki calling on the regional
leaders to cooperate in the provision of education. |
|
| This
conference is the first in a series of six regional conferences,
which will examine country EFA reports submitted for the EFA
2000 Assessment, the most in-depth evaluation of basic education
ever undertaken. |
|
| The
South African leader, who gave a keynote address during the
official ceremony, called on African states to allow students
from the region to study in the different countries to exploit
the opportunities available in the continent. |
|
| He
called for collaboration in research, academics, science and
technology to promote the continent's socio-economic development. |
|
| "Through
exchanges of academics from different countries and the twinning
of institutions, we shall cease to see ourselves simply as fulfilling
national roles, but be actively part of continental development,"
he said. |
|
| He
added: "There is no reason why students themselves should not
be exposed to studying in other countries, in this way developing
a continental consciousness of development." |
|
| The
conference is taking place at the Movenpick Indaba Hotel, Johannesburg,
and is running concurrently with the biennial meeting of African
education ministers organised by the Association for the Development
of Education in Africa (ADEA). Some five hundred participants
attend the two conferences including forty African ministers
of education. |
|
| Highlighting
the impact of Aids/HIV on education and other aspects of socio-economic
development, President Mbeki urged African scholars to lead
in the initiatives to tackle the epidemic. |
|
| The
intelligenstia, he added, should come out of "their academic
cocoons" and join the rest of the Africans in finding solutions
to the numerous problems afflicting the continent, including
poverty, disease, ignorance and wars. |
|
| President
Mbeki, who took a swipe at the colonial education for stunting
the intellectual growth of the Africans, urged the current crop
of leaders to reform their education systems to reflect the
emerging needs of the region and liberate the minds of the learners. |
|
| Quoting
the renown Kenyan writer and critic, Prof Ngugi wa Thiongo,
who now lives in exile in the United States, President Mbeki
said: "The African child must no longer be subjected to the
mental domination that [Prof] Ngugi has spoken about. We are
liberating ourselves and now reside in mental universes of our
own making, for our own progress and prosperity." |
|
| Education
for the 21st century, he told the gathering of experts, educationists,
donor agencies and civil society, must focus on science, engineering
and information technology. |
|
| He
said new education approaches should be formulated to enable
children in disadvantaged conditions - slum dwellers, war victims,
rural poor, pastoralists, among others - to get access to basic
learning. |
|
| The
chairman of the Organisation of African Unity conference of
ministers, Mr Ignatius Chombo, challenged the governments to
increase their expenditure to education from the current average
of two per cent to between six and eight per cent of the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). |
|
| "As
our heads of states have made this commitment, their words should
be translated into reality," he said. |
|
| Mr
Chombo, the minister for higher education for Zimbabwe, criticised
the way donor-funded educational projects were being implemented,
saying most of them never improved the learning conditions in
the continent. |
|
| He
said the debt relief packages that the developed nations and
donor agencies have pledged to Africa and other developing countries
have not been implemented, adding that the bulk of this should
be invested in education. |
|
| The
South African Minister for Education, Prof Kader Asmal, said
the EFA 2000 Assessment exercise had provided the various countries
with the opportunity to examine the real status of education
in their countries, thus make it possible for the governments
to make strategic measures to redress the emerging issues. |
|
| "The
greatest thing about it is that it tells the unvarnished truth.
The EFA performance indicators enable us to read the condition
of our system as never, and confirm or correct our strategic
direction," he said. |
|
| Prof
Asmal decried the impact of political conflicts and war on education
in the continent, saying they had led to displacement of many
children thus contributing to the rising numbers of out of school
youths. |
|
| The
opening ceremony was also addressed by the Vice President, Human
Development Network, World Bank, Mr Eduardo A. Doryan, UNESCO
official, Ms Aicha Bah and Norwegian Education Minister Mr Jon
Lilletum. The conference will end on Friday. |
