| Overview
Education is a fundamental human right. It is the key to sustainable development and peace and stability within and among countries, and thus an indispensable means for effective participation in the societies and economies of the twenty-first century, which are affected by rapid globalisation.
from The Dakar Framework for Action
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Mme Chen Zhili, Chinese Minister of Education, with Director-General of
UNESCO, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura |
Ten years have passed since the global community assembled at the World Conference on Education for All (Jomtien, Thailand, March 1990) to make a firm commitment to “reaching the unreached” in order to enhance opportunities for those traditionally outside the reaches of basic education--with the view that education is the surest means to combat poverty and to promote social integration in the long term.
The global EFA Assessment 2000 carried out toward the end of last decade
revealed that while much progress had been made in basic education, much
still remained to be done to truly achieve the goal of EFA. The World Education
Forum in Dakar (April 2000), which brought back the participants of the
1990 conference, reaffirmed their commitment to achieve EFA by the year
2015. Prior to the Dakar Forum, China signed the Recife Declaration
on EFA at the Fourth Summit of the High Nine Population Countries (E-9)
in Recife, Brazil, in February 2000. The goal of EFA thus remains
the core of UNESCO Beijing’s Regular Programme in education, with emphasis
on expanding opportunities for women, girls and ethnic minorities.
Another highlight of the education programme by UNESCO Beijing is its
cooperation with the International Research and Training Center for Rural
Education (INRULED), which now has two well-established bases, one in Baoding,
Hebei province and another in Nanjing. Now in its sixth year, this
UNESCO-affiliated centre is gaining a high reputation for its training
and research activities. The centre strives to consolidate its programmes
and institutional capacity as an international centre for promoting rural
education and development in both developed and developing nations.
Consistent with UNESCO’s creed of “reaching the unreached” and in support of the 1994 World Conference on Special Needs Education (Salamanca, Spain), UNESCO Beijing Office continues to support the Golden Key Research Center of Education for the Visually Impaired. Golden Key is a Chinese non-governmental organisation dedicated to educating visually impaired children in rural areas.
During the new biennium, UNESCO continues to provide support to China, D.P.R. Korea and Mongolia under the transdisciplinary programme on “Educating for a Sustainable Future (EPD)”, for their national efforts in integrating issues of environment, population, health, and development through education, training and information activities. UNESCO Beijing also contributes to the development of technical and vocational education in these three countries, thereby promoting a “learning society” in which education is no longer restricted to its traditional forms.
The UNESCO Beijing Office regularly cooperates with UNDP, UNICEF and other UN agencies resident in China, D.P.R. Korea and Mongolia on a number of projects and inter-agency activities. With UNDP China, UNESCO Beijing has been working as a technical cooperative agency for the project “Capacity Building for Environmental Education in Primary and Middle Schools through the Production of Interactive Teaching Materials.” It is also implementing the project “Improving Nine-year Compulsory Education in Poor Areas, Focussing on Girl Students”.
Under the auspices of the UN Country Team in China, UNESCO Beijing and UNICEF co-chair the UN Taskforce on Basic Education. The UN Taskforce organises regular meetings and forums, and publishes a quarterly newsletter on basic education in China. UNESCO Beijing has collaborated with UNICEF and UNAIDS in the production of the Teachers’ Handbook on Sex Education and HIV/AIDS Prevention.
New cooperation is emerging with UNICEF Pyongyang, with a focus on the development of basic education activities and the donation and monitoring of the supply of textbook paper. In Mongolia, the UNESCO Beijing Office provides technical support to the Headquarters-managed project on distance basic education for urban and nomadic families, known as “Learning for Life”.
The participants in the 2000 Dakar World Education Forum are not alone in their dream of providing quality education for every child. Through its efforts, the UNESCO Beijing Office hopes to bring this dream--shared by millions of children and youth around the world--that much closer to reality.
Basic Education
for All (EFA)
Promoting basic
education for all is the top priority for UNESCO under its Regular Programme
for Education. This is particularly so in response to the new goals
and commitments made at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in
April 2000. UNESCO Beijing will continue to work closely with the governments
of China, D.P.R. Korea and Mongolia as they work to universalise basic
education for all children and to eradicate adult illiteracy by the year
2015. UNESCO Beijing Office supports a number of key activities in
the three countries, including the EFA assessment exercise, special needs
education, literacy and skills training for youth and adults, particularly
women, and the E-9 initiatives in China.
Education for
All (EFA) Assessment 2000 and the World Education Forum
After 20 months of determined work,the EFA Assessment in China, D.P.R.
Korea and Mongolia was successfully concluded by the end of December 1999.
The three assessment reports then were submitted and presented at the Regional
EFA Forum in Bangkok, Thailand, in January 2000, at which a 10-year regional
action plan was adopted. The regional action plan was further discussed
at the World Forum on Education For All in Dakar, Senegal. While the new
global goal was set for 2015, China also set a national target of reaching
the goals by 2010. The national assessment reports are available
in English from UNESCO Beijing or UNESCO Bangkok (CD-Rom version).
Golden Key
Research Center of Education for Visually Impaired
UNESCO supports the Golden Key Research Center, a Chinese non-governmental
organisation that trains rural teachers of visually impaired children and
encourages visually impaired children in rural areas to attend school.
The Golden Key initiative in Guangxi province, implemented from 1996 to
1998, enabled 1,704 visually impaired children in rural areas to attend
primary school. Since early 1999, Golden Key has helped more than 2,000
visually impaired children living in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The organisation has compiled a handbook on teaching methods and techniques
based on its three years’ experience in Guangxi province. This publication
offers teachers both practical and emotional advice, from the use of three-dimensional
pictures in teaching language to heartwarming stories about visually impaired
children who have succeeded in school. UNESCO Beijing was pleased
to partially support the production of this handbook.
UNESCO hopes to give visually impaired children a taste of the joy of language. Since 1998, the Beijing Office has provided financial support for Ode to Joy, a bi-monthly literature magazine written in Braille. This publication is widely distributed to educational institutions serving visually impaired children. Among the items included in the February 2000 issue were an article on the childhood of the 19th century blind writer Helen Keller, the lyrics to “Ode to My Motherland”, and letters from students at Shenyang School for the Blind and Xuzhou School for Deaf-Mutes.
UNESCO Beijing has worked to attract international attention to the work of Golden Key and has enabled the organisation to procure funds from Norway and Australia. Mr. Xu Bailun, founder of the Golden Key Centre, was awarded the Comenius Medal in 1996.
Launching a
Three-year National Literacy Project in China
The EFA Assessment 2000 in China revealed that despite impressive achievements
in formal primary education, literacy for adults and out-of-school youth
was still very much a concern. China still has an estimated 150 million
illiterate or functionally illiterate (semi-literate) adults. At
the end of 1999, the UNESCO Beijing Office organised a national strategic
planning meeting for a three-year national literacy campaign in China.
Participants prepared a comprehensive project proposal for submission to
the relevant government departments and agencies as well as to external
donors. The project will target China’s western regions, with an emphasis
on training literacy facilitators and developing new learning materials.
Pursuing the
E-9 Initiative in China
China is a leading member in the special programme for the Nine High
Population Countries (E-9). Under the E-9 initiative, China carried out
two major national case studies during 1999 and early 2000, one on “Distance
Education for the Promotion of Basic Education” and another on the “Role
of Women as Educators”. The studies were compiled and synthesised by UNESCO
together with the eight other E-9 member countries. The study on
the “Role of Women as Educators” was specifically prepared for the Fourth
Summit of the E-9 Countries, held in Recife, Brazil, in February 2000.
Under the E-9 framework, China will be implementing a pilot project on “In-service Training of Primary School Teachers in the West Region through Distance Education” during the new biennium. This project serves as a follow-up to the distance education study of 1999. UNESCO regards distance education as a key modality for reaching out to the otherwise unreached teachers and children in schools of the remote western regions of China. With the guidance of UNESCO, China is also undertaking a new study on girls’ education. The study is to be completed in early 2001.
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International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED), Baoding, Hebei Province |
The International Research and Training Center for Rural Education (INRULED), a UNESCO-affiliated centre, was established in November 1994. The main base is on the campus of Hebei Agricultural University in Baoding, Hebei province. In February 1999, a second location was opened at Nanjing Normal University. Now in its sixth year of operation, INRULED has greatly expanded its programmes in both Baoding and Nanjing, with a special emphasis on south-south cooperation among developing nations. Through its affiliation with INRULED, UNESCO Beijing supports various national and international efforts to strengthen local capacities for rural education through training, research, exchange programmes and professional networks among UNESCO member states.
To further consolidate INRULED’s activities, the Second International Advisory Board Meeting in early December 2000 will convene a group of six international experts in the field of rural education and development. This international advisory board will meet every year to discuss INRULED’s future priorities.
There are four core programme activities of INRULED: (1) Regional/International Comparative Study on Rural Education; (2) Advanced Training Programme on the Theory and Practices in Rural Education and Development Strategies (ATP); (3) the University-Link programme; and (4) Information Centre. INRULED also hosts a series of regional and international workshops and seminars.
For more information about INRULED, please visit its interactive website
at:
http://www.inruled.hebau.edu.cn.
Regional Comparative
Research on Rural Education
The programme on Regional Comparative Research in Rural Education was
launched in November 1999 to improve research standards and to enhance
international exchange and cooperation in the field of rural education
and research. Initially, the programme consisted of four independent research
activities with experts from the Asia-Pacific region at the INRULED Nanjing
Base. In July 2000, INRULED organised a Regional Planning Meeting
of 10-Country Comparative Study Programme on Rural Education. Ten participants
from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan,
the Philippines and Thailand discussed the relationship between rural education
and social development, as well as the means to pursue comparative research
on strategies of rural education development.
Since late 1999, INRULED has hosted a series of regional and international workshops, seminars and research studies.
| The training programme usually lasts five to six weeks and takes place in three venues: INRULED Baoding Center, INRULED Nanjing Base and the Gansu Institute for Educational Research, a cooperating institute of INRULED. Activities include a series of lectures, study field visits, group discussions and reports. The second ATP took place from September to October 1999, with eight senior fellows from Africa participating. In September 2000, a former ATP fellow from Nigeria returned to Nanjing under a Chinese scholarship to pursue her Master degree. From October to November 2000, the third ATP invited nine fellows from Africa, the Arab States, Central Asia and East and Southeast Asia. |  |
University-Link
Programme
The University-Link Programme seeks to establish a network of universities,
research institutions and experts in the field of rural education and development.
The programme invited higher education institutions from Pakistan and Bangladesh
to participate during 1999. At the end of 2000, another regional
institution will join the programme to launch a joint research project
with the Agricultural University of Hebei. In addition, a quarterly
newsletter has been co-published by the participating international institutions
and the Agricultural University of Hebei.
Information
Clearing House on Rural Education and Development
Begun in 1998, INRULED’s database on rural education and development
now forms the heart of INRULED’s information centre. The database
contains the accumulated experiences and documentation of the past five
years of INRULED activities, and soon will be made available through INRULED’s
Internet site. INRULED is in the process of creating a full-fledged
information centre at INRULED Baoding Center. It also publishes a quarterly
newsletter on its activities and relevant information collected from its
partners abroad.
A series of training and reference materials on rural education for poverty alleviation has also been produced and distributed widely. Some key topics include: girls’ education, distance education, income generation, technical-vocational education training, curriculum development and the role of NGOs. The materials are all produced in English and available at the INRULED Baoding Center.
In collaboration with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation Regional Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology (SEAMEO-INNOTECH) in the Philippines, INRULED supported in March 2000 a study visit of three officers to national and international development-oriented institutions in the Philippines.
Pilot
Project on Improving Foreign Language Education in Secondary Schools in
D.P.R. Korea
Foreign language education, particularly of English, increasingly is
being seen as a necessity for the younger generation in D.P.R. Korea. In
1999, UNESCO Beijing organised a study visit to China for the university
president and his assistant from Pyongyang Foreign Language University.
Under its 2000-2001 Regular Programme on Renovation of General Secondary
Education, UNESCO Beijing is providing support for a national pilot project
to improve foreign language education in D.P.R. Korean secondary schools.
This follow-up project is based on the experiences of the 1999 study visit
delegation. Pyongyang Foreign Language High School has been selected
as a pilot project school. Detailed guidelines for improving English
language teaching methods have been prepared, and supplementary teaching
and learning aids for secondary school English classes will be developed
and tested in 2001.
National
Case Studies on “Best Practices” in Technical and Vocational Education
in China, D.P.R. Korea and Mongolia
Technical and Vocational Education/Training (TVET) improvement is essential
to the development of individuals as they prepare to enter the workforce.
The Second International Congress on TVET in April 1999 promoted the exchange
of “best practices” as a means to improve the quality of TVET. In
response to the recommendations of the Congress on TVET, national case
studies on selected “best practices” in China, D.P.R. Korea and Mongolia
were initiated. The three case studies examine the quality of knowledge,
the skills of students completing vocational education and the relevance
of TVET curriculum, among other topics. Upon completion of the case
studies in November 2000, a sub-regional seminar will be held to present
the studies’ conclusions and to discuss key issues and strategies in TVET.
Education
for a Sustainable Future (EPD)
The word “education” has appeared on the lips of people tackling any
number of issues–from the elimination of poverty to environmental preservation,
from the improvement of urban life to women’s rights. From these
discussions, the concept of “education for sustainability” has emerged.
The “educating for a sustainable future” initiative stems from a series
of major United Nations conferences held during the 1990s.
UNESCO Beijing works closely with the National Commissions in China,
D.P.R. Korea and Mongolia to mobilise resources at the local level for
sustainable communities. In China, UNESCO has supported the production
of materials on Environment, Population and Development (EPD). UNESCO
also has assisted in a research project within the three-year national
EPD programme framework. Simple, user-friendly leaflets and posters
on environmental education were produced for nomads and non-formal education
centres in Mongolia. D.P.R. Korea produced pamphlets and brochures on health
and population education.
Associated
Schools Project Network (ASPnet) in East Asia
The best way to learn about tolerance and peace and to live together
in harmony is to start with children and young people in schools. The ASPnet
seeks to reinforce the humanistic, ethical, cultural and international
dimensions of education, so as to promote international understanding and
peace. The ASPnet traditionally has been most active in the Southeast
and South Asia sub-regions. In East Asia, the Republic of Korea and Japan
long have been leaders within ASPnet, but it is only during the last several
years that ASPnet schools have been established in China and Mongolia.
UNESCO believes that there was no better time than the year 2000, designated as International Year for the Culture of Peace, to expand the ASPnet in East Asia and to promote the “four pillars of learning”--learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and learning to live together–as the foundation for international peace and understanding in the sub-region.
UNESCO Beijing, in close cooperation with the UNESCO Centre of Macau, organised the first sub-regional workshop on ASPnet in East Asia, which took place in September 2000 in Macau. The workshop invited the secretaries-general and deputy secretaries-general from the National Commissions for UNESCO in China, D.P.R. Korea, Japan, Republic of Korea and Mongolia, as well as representatives from the National Federations of UNESCO Clubs and Associations of China and Japan. An English teacher from a Republic of Korea ASPnet school and school teachers from Macau also attended. Participants adopted a set of recommendations and expressed their renewed commitment to ASPnet initiatives and to increased cultural understanding in the East Asian sub-region.
Extra-budgetary
Programmes
In the light of limited resources, UNESCO has been working hand-in-hand
with donor agencies and UN partners to support national and regional efforts
in promoting educational development at all levels. In particular, UNESCO
Beijing has been working closely with UNDP China on two projects, and is
implementing five projects under UNESCO’s Funds-in-Trust cooperation (FIT)
with the governments of Japan and the Republic of Korea. Four projects
are also being developed under the newly approved United Nations Human
Security Funds.
Innovative
Approaches to Functional Literacy for Poverty Alleviation (547-RAS-18)
This project, originally covering China, Indonesia, Mongolia, and Nepal,
was launched in June 1999 with the support of the Japanese Funds-in-Trust.
A regional planning meeting in July 1999 was followed by a series of national
case studies. These case studies focussed on successful projects
that demonstrated the role of functional literacy in poverty alleviation.
Based on the case study findings, a draft reference manual on Planning
and Management of Functional Literacy Programmes for Poverty Alleviation
was developed and then reviewed at a meeting in December 1999.
Following consultation with UNESCO Bangkok and New Delhi Offices, in its second year the project also invited India, the Maldives and the Philippines to participate. The participation of these three countries has further expanded opportunities for sharing experiences and establishing regional partnerships. National workshops to review and improve the draft reference manual are being organised in the project countries. On the basis of the comments and recommendations of the workshop participants, the reference manual will be updated and refined before its publication in early 2001.
Curriculum
Development UNESCO-UNU/IIST/UNESCO Centre of Macau Cooperative Project
on Education Software and Computer Science Curriculum Development (506-INT-22)
| In response to the need of higher education institutions for efficient management systems employing advanced computer software, the UNESCO Beijing Office, the International Institute for Software Technology of the United Nations University in Macau (UNU/IIST), and the UNESCO Centre of Macau signed a Memorandum on 26 May 1999 to carry out a cooperative project on “Education Software and Computer Science Curriculum Development”. |  |
Multichannel
Learning for Women Farmers in the Three High Population countries in Asia
(547-RAS-24)
China, Indonesia, and Pakistan are participating countries in this
project, developed by UNESCO Headquarters and launched in 1997 at a regional
planning meeting in Kunming, China. The main objective of the project is
to develop gender-sensitive basic education learning materials, including
posters, booklets, pamphlets and audio-visual aids, for women living in
rural areas. Project coordinators are committed to involving both media
experts and education personnel in the implementation of this project.
China’s national level activities are managed by UNESCO Beijing Office, with the guidance of the project officer at UNESCO Headquarters. The project is being implemented in Gansu and Yunnan provinces. Experts and practitioners from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guizhou province have also participated in some activities. Between April 1999 and September 2000, three national level workshops for the development of multi-media learning materials were held, resulting in the preparation of prototype draft materials.
China also took part in the second regional workshop in Indonesia in early November 2000, at which the prototype materials were presented and experiences were shared with the other project countries. The materials produced at the workshops will be revised and distributed to literacy and non-formal education classes in Gansu and Yunnan provinces. A radio programme based on the materials is also being considered. The project is expected to be completed in 2001.
Provision of
Basic Education and Social Protection for Out-of-School Children in China,
Indonesia, and the Philippines (547-RAS-28)
This basic education project was launched in April 2000 by the UNESCO
Jakarta Office, which includes Indonesia, China and the Philippines.
A national needs assessment study on out-of-school children in China was
presented at the May 2000 regional workshop in Manila. Under the
framework of this project, China is implementing a pilot programme on non-formal
basic education provisions for out-of-school children in Beijing, with
a particular focus on the migrant children of the floating population.
An evaluation will be carried out upon completion of the one-year pilot
project.
Republic of
Korea Funds-in-Trust Cooperation: Educational Development in Mongolia (526-MON-10)
Funded by the Republic of Korea Funds-in-Trust and implemented by UNESCO,
this project aims to strengthen Mongolia’s capacity for indigenous development,
to contribute to peace and non-formal education, and to enhance understanding
of human rights and democracy among youth from the Republic of Korea and
Mongolia.
Under this project, Mongolia has produced a pamphlet on Peace Education for youth, organised a poetry contest on peace and introduced peace education as one of the subjects taught in a project pilot school. In addition, an International Youth Forum was organised in both countries, five Mongolian youth visited the Republic of Korea in August 1999 and five students from the Republic of Korea visited the Youth Festival in Mongolia in October 2000.
“Learning for
Life”: Non-Formal Basic Distance Education in Mongolia
The “Learning for Life” project on non-formal basic distance education
in Mongolia was launched in 1997 with the financial support of the Danish
government. The project is managed by a UNESCO Headquarters resident project
officer in Ulaanbaatar, in cooperation with the Mongolian Ministry of Science,
Technology, Education and Culture (MOSTEC). UNESCO Beijing Office has provided
technical and administrative support to the project as needed. Beginning
in 2001, the project will be administered from the UNESCO Beijing Office.
“Learning for Life”
has become the largest distance education project in Mongolia, serving
6,000 out-of-school and unemployed youth in urban areas and over 30,000
vulnerable rural and nomadic families throughout the country. The project
uses radio and selected printed materials prepared by the project team
to enhance educational opportunities among the otherwise unreached population
in the country. Topics include a number of life-skill related subjects,
ranging from income generation and women health to “how to start your own
business” and animal breeding. This flexible learning approach facilitates
continued education and skills training, contributing to individual empowerment
and the elimination of poverty at the household and community level.
The project has initiated large-scale cooperative efforts with various partners at the central and local level, including international donors and UN agencies.
While the “Learning for Life” project is expected to be concluded by the end of 2001, the distance education programme will continue under the leadership of the Mongolia national project team. A proposal to expand the programme’s scope is under consideration.
UNDP Projects
UNESCO Beijing has been working with UNDP Beijing for the past three
years on the project “Capacity Building for Environmental Education in
Primary and Middle Schools through the Production of Interactive Teaching
Materials” (CPR-96-310). This initiative seeks to remedy two
common problems in China’s existing environmental education programme:
that environmental education traditionally has been taught only in science
classes and that students have not been active participants in the learning
process. Involvement is fostered by engaging students in experiments and
extracurricular activities, and by encouraging them to view the environment
as a matter to take into their hands (“think globally, act locally”) rather
than as mere book knowledge.
UNESCO Beijing has invited regional experts to serve as consultants and has organised a formal evaluation of the materials in conjunction with the Ministry of Education of China. This report offers positive feedback on the programme as a whole. The materials are expected to be published by the end of 2000.
UNESCO is also implementing the project ÒImproving Nine-year Compulsory Education in Poor Areas, Focussing on Girl StudentsÓ (CPR-96-401). This project is a sub-component of a larger project of the same title implemented by the Ministry of Education and UNDP. The UNESCO component consists of a training workshop on education research methodology for provincial education bureau administrators and the creation of a website in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.
United Nations
Human Security Fund
Four projects in education are currently being developed. The
UN Human Security Fund, created in 1999 by the Japanese government, is
primarily for UN agencies. Of a specific amount earmarked for UNESCO,
UNESCO Beijing was given the first opportunity to develop projects for
submission. Three proposals for China and one for Mongolia were prepared.
The projects in
China concentrate on: vocational education for minority girls in Guangxi,
vocational education for unemployed youth, and information, communication
and education (ICE) for HIV/AIDS prevention.
In Mongolia, a project to reconstruct and renovate boarding schools
in rural areas in order to allow nomadic children to continue their education
was proposed. This was based on the findings of a needs assessment mission
conducted in the country at the request of the Mongolian government in
May 2000. The mission assessed the damage from the disastrous winter (“Dzud”)
of 1999-2000.
Special
Activities in Education
Donation of
Textbook Paper to D.P.R. Korea
The series of natural disasters that hit D.P.R. Korea from 1995 to
1997 seriously affected the education sector. The floods of 1995 and 1996
damaged or destroyed over 4,100 schools and washed away 3.5 million textbooks
(3,000 metric tonnes of paper), amounting to US$140 million in damage.
This destruction, combined with the D.P.R. Korea economic crisis,
has meant that the education sector has not been able to recover from the
aftermath of the natural disasters.
In the hope of receiving assistance from the international community, the D.P.R. Korea government made a strong appeal to UNESCO in early 2000 for the donation of paper for printing of textbooks for primary and secondary schools. Given the urgency of the situation, the Director-General of UNESCO decided to allocate US$95,000 from UNESCO’s regular programme budget to UNESCO Beijing Office in order to procure approximately 150 metric tonnes of paper by mid-August 2000. The new textbooks printed with this paper will be made available to the school children in the academic year beginning in April 2001.
However, the total amount needed to recover the textbook shortage is said to be around 3,000 metric tonnes. Therefore, UNESCO Beijing Office will continue to seek and mobilise funds from our donor partners to ensure that quality education will continue to be provided to the children of D.P.R. Korea.
UNESCO/Nomura
Scholarship Programme
This three-year scholarship programme in Guangxi Zhuang Minority Autonomous
Region was launched in 1998 with a generous contribution from the Nomura
Center for Lifelong Integrated Education, a Japanese NGO. One hundred minority
girls in three middle schools are receiving scholarships to continue their
schooling at the same time as they receive technical and vocational training.
The programme is unique in the sense that it offers technical and vocational
training in conjunction with a general middle school academic curriculum,
thereby making the teaching and learning process more relevant to the minority
girls’ needs and living environment.
The programme will
end in the summer of 2001, but before its conclusion, Mrs. Yoshiko Nomura,
the Director-General of the Nomura Center, will visit the schools in Guangxi
in early December 2000. Her visit will surely provide great encouragement
to these minority girls who otherwise would not have had the chance to
attend middle school.
In view of the scholarship programme’s success and popularity, UNESCO Beijing is actively seeking to mobilise funds to support the continuation of the programme in coming years.
China Changchun
International Educational Exchange Exposition
UNESCO Beijing Office participated in the second China Changchun International
Educational Exchange Exposition, organised by the Changchun Education Commission
and the International Education Association for International Exchange
from 8-11 September 2000. UNESCO set up a booth at the Exposition, where
posters and publications on UNESCO programmes such as EFA, MAB and WHC
were displayed. The four-day event attracted over 20,000 visitors.
UN Theme Group
on Basic Education
Under the auspices of the UN Resident Coordinator, UNESCO Beijing and
UNICEF China have co-chaired the UN Taskforce on Basic Education since
1998. The Taskforce was upgraded to a UN Theme Group on Basic Education
in October 2000, with an expanded membership to all those involved in or
concerned with basic education in China. The Theme Group has a core membership
consisting of UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank, which manages the
day-to-day coordination of the Theme Group.
The Theme Group
core group has been carrying out four main activities: (1) regular meetings
with UN agencies, bilateral donors, and Chinese experts; (2) quarterly
education forums; (3) publication of a quarterly newsletter; and (4) the
development of a database. UNESCO Beijing has been responsible for the
production of a newsletter (in English and Chinese) on basic education
in China. Each issue of the newsletter has focussed on a specific theme
relevant to basic education, such as Education for All, education and technology,
cost and finance in education, privatisation of education, curriculum reform,
etc.
Through the mechanism of the UN Theme Group on Basic Education, UNESCO Beijing is also committed to working closely with UN sister agencies in support of the national efforts in China for the promotion of basic education and the achievement of the goals of EFA by 2010.
As a direct follow-up to the Dakar World Education Forum in April 2000, a two-part television documentary on EFA in China is being produced by the Theme Group core group in cooperation with China Education Television. Funding is provided by UNICEF. The programme is scheduled to be broadcast in early 2001.
UNESCO Beijing Office assumed an active role in the preparation of the UN Common Country Assessment (CCA) exercise under the framework of the Basic Education Taskforce. The report by the Taskforce contained a comprehensive analytical account, along with supporting information and data on the status of basic education in China from the UN agencies’ perspectives. This report, together with other CCA reports, forms the basis for the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) in China that will be launched in 2001.
UNESCO Hope
Schools
UNESCO and a group of dedicated volunteers continue to contribute to
China’s Hope Schools. Further details are described in Annex I of this
programme brochure.
Publications
UNESCO Beijing and/or its partners under UNESCO’s support have produced
several publications, documents and final reports of meetings and workshops:
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