2 December 2008
Lagos — Once every four years, the International Bureau of Education (IBE) organises the International Conference on Education (ICE), a forum for dialogue between Education Ministers, in Geneva, Switzerland. Bukola Olatunji, who covered the 48th session of the conference, reports on its conclusions and recommendations
For four days, no fewer than a thousand delegates from 153 countries, including about 80 Ministers and Deputy Ministers of Education, as well as education experts, representatives of 25 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and United Nations agencies met at the 48th session of the International Conference on Education (ICE), organised by UNESCO's International Bureau of Education (IBE) in Geneva, Switzerland.
The oldest intergovernmental body specialised in education, IBE was founded in Geneva in 1925 to centralise documentation related to public and private education, to take an interest in scientific research in the field, and to serve as a coordinating centre for concerned institutions and societies. It has been organising the ICE sessions, regularly, since 1934 and became an integral part of UNESCO in 1940.
Instead of imposing predefined models or prescribing solutions applicable everywhere, the IBE facilitates access to different experiences and assists curriculum specialists and relevant stakeholders in gaining new perspectives on complex issues and making their own informed decisions by exploring the advantages and disadvantages of different options in compliance with their own contexts and needs.
IBE knowledge base consists of a wide range of specialized resources, including databases, reports, studies, working papers, publications, specialized collections and tools. This comprehensive set of resources can be exploited for a variety of purposes, including training and decision-making, and facilitate informed policy dialogue on specific educational and curriculum issues.
This year's conference on the theme, 'Inclusive Education: The Way of the Future' provided a forum for participants to share experiences regarding education for inclusion, identify educational systems that take the diversity of pupils into account, examine ways for schools to become more open to diversity and effectively reduce the drop-out rate, as well as the role of governments in implementing policies that promote inclusion.
According to UNESCO, 75 million children around the world still do not have access to education. They include children with disabilities and those from marginalised groups (migrants, street children, HIV/AIDS orphans). And among them, it is estimated that a substantial number will never reach the educational level needed to succeed professionally and personally.
Moreover, some 650 million people are estimated to be deprived of their right to education because of physical or mental disabilities, or their special learning needs. In developing countries, the percentage of children with disabilities attending school varies from less than 1 percent to 5 per cent.
In his opening remarks, Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. Koichiro Matsuura said the theme was "more than timely. All ministers of education know that lack of knowledge, skills and competences is increasingly a cause of exclusion and of social tension." He described education as a societal project that cannot be achieved without broad partnerships.
In her intervention on the first day of the conference, Head of the Nigerian delegation and Minister of State for Education, Hajiya Aishatu Jibril Dukku said the country's approach "to the development of a truly inclusive education and there from inclusive society is demonstrated in a thorough on-going assessment and review of the existing education system, structure and contents and the evaluation of its efficiency and relevance in the context of global competitiveness."
This, she said, has helped the country to identify the gaps and the weaknesses that need to be addressed. Apart from the nine-year basic education curriculum, which came into effect this school year, after a review of its content for relevance and functionality; Dukku said that of the senior secondary school was under review and would come into effect in 2011. "Added to this", she said, "is the preparation of Trade/Entrepreneurship curriculum for out-of-school youths which will come into effect from the first quarter of 2009."
She however noted some of the challenges and enormous among of work that still needed to be done by Nigeria, "for example, we have not dwelt in any detail on the question of teachers, their need for adequacy in terms of numbers, appropriate training, and their overall importance to the success of any action in favour of inclusion."
The ICE was the conclusion of nine preparatory meetings and four regional conferences that had taken place in different parts of the world in the last two years and, according to Matsuura, "drew 900 participants from 128 countries.
The plenary sessions and workshop debates at the conference focused on four major areas of the central theme of inclusive education: Approaches, Scope and Content; Public Policies; Systems, Links and Transitions; as well as Learners and Teachers.
Building on the outcomes of the nine preparatory meetings and four regional conferences meetings and based on the results of plenary sessions and workshop debates that took place during the ICE, participants unanimously adopted some conclusions and recommendations which they agreed should be disseminated "among the actors and partners of the international educational community so as to inspire, guide, support and develop renewed and resolutely inclusive educational policies."
Before presenting the recommendations, President of the Drafting Group and Nigeria 's Ambassador to UNESCO, Prof. Michael Omolewa, on behalf of the conference, sent a message of peace and goodwill to the government and people of India on the terrorist attack on the city of Mumbai , which took place on the third day of the conference on November 26. The message stated in part: "Humanity is capable of great acts of kindness and great acts of depravity. It is thus with great sadness that the international community acknowledges the tragedy which occurred November 26, in Mumbai. Our thoughts are with the families of those who were lost in this senseless act."
In her response, India 's Minister of State for Education, Smt. D. Purandeshwari quoted Mahatma Gandhi, saying 'for the narrow minded people, there are notions of mine and thine, but for a large hearted good human being, the entire world is his/her family'.
She thanked the conference for the "spontaneous outpouring of sympathy for the victims of these barbaric terrorist acts, aimed to undermine democratic, pluralistic and multicultural fabric of our society", adding, "We can never bow our heads or stand silent in such a situation. We stand committed to the international campaign on terrorism. City of Mumbai , the symbol of these traditions has always refused to be cowed down by dastardly acts of terrorism."
In the conclusions and recommendations, participants recalled Article 26 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights that states that everyone has a right to education. They affirmed that inclusive quality education is fundamental to achieving human, social and economic development.
They also agreed that governments as well as all the other social actors had an important role of providing a quality education for all and, in so doing, should recognise the importance of a broadened concept of inclusive education that addresses the diverse needs of all learners and that is relevant, equitable and effective.
According to participants, "all forecasts suggest that the global financial crisis will have a disproportionate impact on the poor -those who carry the least responsibility for these events. In this context, we reaffirm the importance of inclusive education for reducing poverty, and improving health, incomes and livelihoods.
"Therefore, despite the current global financial crisis, we emphasise that funding for education should be a top priority and that the financial crisis should not serve as a justification for a reduction in the allocation of resources to education at both the national and international levels", they said.
The conference called on member states to adopt an inclusive education approach in the design, implementation, monitoring and assessment of educational policies as a way to further accelerate the attainment of Education for All (EFA) goals as well as to contribute to building more inclusive societies. To this end, a broadened concept of inclusive education can be viewed as a general guiding principle to strengthened education for sustainable development, lifelong learning for all and equal access of all levels of society to learning opportunities so as to implement the principles of inclusive education.
On the workshop theme 'Approaches, Scope and Content', participants called on members countries to acknowledge that inclusive education was an ongoing process aimed at offering quality education for all while respecting diversity and the different needs and abilities, characteristics and learning expectations of the students and communities, eliminating all forms of discrimination.
They should therefore address social inequity and poverty levels as priorities, and also promote school cultures and environments that are child-friendly, conducive to effective learning and inclusive of all children, healthy and protective and gender-responsive; as well as encourage the participation of the learners themselves, their families and communities.
On 'Public Policies', member states were urged to, among others:
Collect and use relevant data on all categories of the excluded to better develop education policies and reforms for their inclusion, as well as to develop national monitoring and evaluation mechanisms;
Consider as appropriate the ratification of international conventions related to inclusion and, in particular, the convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted in December 2006;
Pursue education in the public interest as well as view linguistic and cultural diversity in the classroom as a valuable resource and promote the use of the mother tongue in the early years of instruction.
On 'Systems, Links and Transitions', participants called on member states to, among others, enhance efforts to reduce illiteracy as a mechanism of inclusion, bearing in mind the importance of literate parents on the education of their children;
Provide high-quality, non-formal educational opportunities that offer the possibilities for formal recognition of competences acquired in non-formal settings;
Strengthen the links between schools and society to enable families and the communities to participate in and contribute to the educational process; and strengthen the use of ICTs in order to ensure greater access to learning opportunities, in particular in rural, remote and disadvantaged areas.
On 'Learners and Teachers', it was recommended that member states reinforce the role of teachers by working to improve their status and their working conditions, and develop mechanisms for recruiting suitable candidates;
Encourage innovative research in teaching and learning processes related to inclusive education, and support the strategic role of tertiary education in the pre-service and professional training of teachers on inclusive education practices through inter alia, the provision of adequate resources; and, also, take into consideration the protection of learners, teachers and schools in times of conflict.
On the last, but not the least, 'International Cooperation', the conference drew member states' attention to UNESCO's leading role with regard to inclusive education through:
Promoting the exchange and dissemination of best practices,; providing, upon request, advice to countries on how they can develop and implement policies on inclusive education; encouraging South-South and North-South-South cooperation for the promotion of inclusive education; as well as efforts to increase resources for education both at national and international levels.
Finally, the ICE requested other international organizations to also support member states in the implementation of the recommendations as appropriate.
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