 PANEL FOUR
"EDUCATION AND SOCIETY" (UNESCO)

"Education and Society"

(UNESCO)

* Education for the 21st Century

* Building a Culture of Peace

* Preparing Individuals for Citizenship and Participation

* Fighting Exclusion to Reach all Groups

* Promoting gender equity and Respect for the Environment

* Adapting to Rapid Change in the Workplace

* Improving the Teaching of Sciences

* UNESCO's Commission on Education for the 21St Century

* Conclusion: To Global Problems, Global Solutions

Chairperson: H.E. Mr. Javier Barros Valero.

Under Secretary of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MEXICO)

The Panelists:

H. E. Ms Gennet Zewide, Minister of Education (Ethiopia). Ms Zewide has had extensive experience in teaching business education courses and designing administration programmes.

H.E. Barrister Jamiruddin Sircar, Minister of Education (Bangladesh)

Mr M. Makagiansar. Chairman, Consultative Council on National Education (Indonesia) and formerly, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Culture.

Mr Federico Mayor, Director-General of UNESCO. A professor of biochemistry, Mr Mayor has also served as Spain's Minister of Education and Science.

Mahatma Gandhi's

philosophy of non-violence and vision of

education as

"the basic tool for the development of

consciousness

and reconstitution of society"

has lost none of its relevance

in a world characterized

by growing inter-dependence, complexity and

shrinking distances.

Despite their distinct cultural identities and histories, the nine high-population countries are faced by global challenges at the threshold of a new millenium. Education is at the heart of development and plays a pivotal role in giving societies the strength and sense of purpose they need to address the problems confronting them: widening economic disparities among and within countries, mounting debt burdens, rapid population growth, widespread environmental degradation, civil strife, and armed conflicts, and - least tolerable of all - the preventable deaths of millions of children.

The relationship between education and society is an interactive one. Through education, we have the, capacity to shape the kind of society in which we, will five tomorrow. Education transmits values, knowledge, skills and behaviour. It is not only synonymous with the awakening of a human being's potential, but also with social and economic progress. An educated and healthy population is a country's best asset for achieving sustained and sustainable development. But to claim that it is a panacea would be to ignore that education has played a role in perpetrating inequalities between men and women, nationalities, nations and ethnic groups. Unfortunately, it is often conditioned by the same social ills, economic obstacles and cultural inertia which it is trying to overcome. It takes leadership, political commitment to a long-term vision and a strong alliance of society around the cause of education for all to actually mobilize the tremendous potential of education for social progress.

Education for the 21st Century

In committing themselves to education for all, national leaders are also looking toward a vision of the future in which education plays a critical role. "To make progress, a people, a nation and humanity alike must nurture a common vision of the future it wants to create," said Mr Makagiansar, chairman of the Indonesian consultative council on national education. This vision is a dynamic one, shaped by global and national imperatives. Global because of growing interdependency that affects even the smallest and most remote villages; national, because a country's development is ultimately dependent on the education of its people. This is a collective responsibility: "Globality and complexity can only be addressed by a broad alliance between all members of society, including parliamentarians, the media and industry," said Federico Mayor, UNESCO's Director-General. Failure to adopt a long term vision and raise the access anti quality of education in countries will result in increasing poverty, migration, marginalization and population growth. China considers education a "milestone" in building a modern society. The Nigerian minister of education defined education as a "catalyst" on society, emphasizing that "education of women is the essence of all educational activity since women are the custodians of cultural heritage and the teachers of all generations." In recent years, development initiatives have

stressed the need to focus on the individual as the foundation for economic growth and overall progress in society. For the first time, the fourth United Nation's International Development Strategy is based on two pillars: poverty alleviation and human resource development. The Earth Summit spelt out the relationship between economic growth and sustainable development, and stressed the need to respect the environment. Agenda 21, its action plan, set detailed goals calling for renewed attention to social investment, including education, maternal and child health care and meaures to improve the status of women. More specifically related to the field of education, the Jomtien Conference has stimulated a broad debate on the quality and nature of education best suited to cope with change and ultimately, improve the wellbeing and living standards of societies.

" We must be able to adapt to the pace life. We must be able to anticipate events. This is the role of education. We must provide an anticipatory kind of education, so that we are not always adjusting to events, but so that we can master our own density."

Federico Mayor, Director-General, UNESCO

with change and ultimately, improve the well being and living standards of societies.

" In a world hurtling into the 21st century, we are now called upon to make a major shift from disintegration, from compulsive consumerism to sustainable development, from regionalism to globalism, from the exploitative image of man and nature to the cooperative and ecological image, " said Karan Singh President of the India International Centre. "The main instrument for this process will inevitably be the educational system, which alone can facilitate the task of actualising the total potentialities of human beings. This creative reorientation of our educational systems, both in their outer structure and inner spirit, represents one of the most exciting challenges of our times." While the object of any discussion on education and society is to focus on the future, the general assumption shared by participants was that education has failed to serve all members of society fairly and to keel) abreast of changes, hence stalling development. With their tendency toward centralization and rigidity, educational systems have too often remained immune or poorly adapted to changing patterns in society. "We are working with tools similar to those at the time of my great-great grandfather, if not earlier, while our circumstances of living show little similarity to theirs," said Mr. Makagiansar. "Rarely the question is asked as to how the new programmes should be made responsive to the requirements of changed or changing circumstances."

Education continues to be locked into outdated thinking patterns. "In our ordinary day-to-day behaviour, we subconsciously tend to assume that sheer hard work and that doing more of the same thing constitute the sure way towards achieving progress," said Mr. Makagianasar. " This kind of linear thinking, unfortunately, continues to be nurtured by most educational practices, and as such,it has become a dominant feature of the educator's and the teacher's mindset."

Education for all cannot be discussed without putting the accent on education as a shared responsibility for and by all members of society and the international community. Its value has to be stressed by all so that positive learning atmospheres are nurtured at all

"Our new era is a witness to the shift from musclepower to brainpower. Functional literacy and basic knowledge should not be static but once acquired, should enable the person to take initiative to engage in the excitement of creating things, to discover new horizons of knowledge and culture, to become independent, and yet appreciate the interdependency between people."

M.Makagiansar, Consultative Council on National Education, Indonesia

levels, starting in the home. Educating all means reaching out to marginalized groups, including minorities, children displaced by war, rural and street children, and the disabled. Inside educational systems, established patterns of selectivity against economic, social or cultural minorities will have to be resolutely fought against, The mass media have an important role to play in promoting a global vision that is based on social justice and equity.

But what kind of questions and concerns should policymakers, educationalists, parents, teachers and other representatives of society be asking in shaping this global vision of EFA? These questions are intricately linked to the kind of society we are moving towards. "Fortunately, we are not here to leave the future of EFA either to the exclusive power of uncertainty and or to its corollary of finding ourselves in a state of helplessness. The question is "How do we cope with an uncertain future?" which, in turn, we may reduce to asking ourselves, "How do we cope with change?", said Mr. Makagiansar. To trace lines of enquiry, UNESCO's discussion paper proposed the framework adopted in the work of its Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century, chaired by Mr Jacques Delors. The Commission has agreed to focus on education's relationship to culture, the national state and citizenship, the social fabric, sustainable development, economic growth and employment, research and the progress of science.

Building a Culture of Peace

From the vantage point of all panelists, the most vital mission of education is that of building and strengthening peace. With the easing of global tensions, secure development will be threatened less by external agression than by intolerance based on ignorance, tensions between disparate values or the overassertiveness of certain group interests. Societies will need to he equipped to face and preserve peace. The main defenses of this peace, as the UNESCO Constitution reminds us, will need to be constructed in the minds of men, women and children around the world. UNESCO's Director-General identified peace-building and peace-keeping as the two facets of the agenda for peace. "Until now, an immense majority of efforts have been devoted to peace-keeping. Peace-building is still today, a very secondary aspect. We are unprepared for peace-keeping. We have our defense mechanisms" he said. Today's challenge is to shift progressively toward peace-building. "Peace-building means education and long term action, and preventive

action... Such a shift involves a change in our way of thinking about the, future. Peacebuilding is invisible, because by preventing conflict, no one realizes what has been (lone, since the event never took place. Preventing conflict is linked to guaranteeing human security, a central concept in this year's Human Development Report. It implies a redefinition of global security, shifting priority from national security to individual security, through jobs, basic rights and a safe environment. Education for all is a key factor of human security. At the same time, to build peace and guarantee this security, we must build a culture of "pace", said Mr Mayor."We must, be able to adapt to the pace of life, we

"Without education, we shall forget our historical heritage and learn artificial cultures."

H.E. Mr Javier Barros Valero, Under Secretary of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Mexico

must be able to anticipate events. This is the role of education. We must provide an anticipatory kind of education, so that we are not always adjusting to events, but can master our own destiny." Budding this culture of peace means forging patterns of behaviour that are non-violent, imparting values that stress tolerance, justice, solidarity, equity, and international understanding. "As each Society at one point possesses a knowledge-level, I consider that Education for All is the battle of raising knowledge levels in the interest of peace, international understanding and equity amongst nations," said Mr. Makagiansar. The question of values was emphasized by participants. Many societies consider that, in a world increasingly shaped by materialism, a more signficant place needs to be assigned to the teaching of ethics, values and culture in school curricula. Gennet Zewide, Ethiopia's minister of education, urged that school curricula, teacher training, the media and research incorporate gender concerns and relation-ships so that a "culture of mutual respect and understanding" is fostered in educational systems. Dr. Karan Singh insisted on the cultural dimension of the educational system. "Instead of clinging to fixed ideas and rigid patterns, what is needed is the recognition of some of the insights of' various religious and cultural traditions for a decisive break-through, a quantum jump into a new cultural dimension. We must learn the fourfold art of nurturing the body, the mind, the emotions and the spirit so that the individual can move towards harmonious development." He urged that education articulate a philosophy of life which stresses the social values of love, non-violence, friendship, the small family norm, respect for the environment, and a basic spiritual awareness.

Striking this balance between sensitivity to local cultures and the imperative of a global outlook is a challenge to educationalists. "Without education, we shall forget our historical heritage and learn artificial cultures," said Javier Barros Valero, Mexican under- secretary for higher education and scientific research. The safeguarding of cultural identities will be increasingly critical in the emerging global society. The UNESCO discussion paper recommends studying and building upon the successful experiences with multi- cultural education found in a number of countries. Similary, attention must be given to the issue of language, which reflects many of the simultaneous and conflicting demands made in the name of globalization, easier

communication, but also preservation of cultural identity. Various models of bilingual education should be evaluated and the results shared among educational systems.

With their ever increasing role the mass media have the power to further or hamper the educational cause. Commercial interests behind major communications networks may be conducive to standardizing cultures rather than reflecting their diversity. Mr Karan Singh decried the spiralling number of violent images seen by children in the media, while Ethiopia's education minister emphasized how women's subordinate role in society is reinforced in the media. The Mexican under-secretary for higher education and scientific research warned against the "Penelope Syndrome," by which what is learnt during the day in school has a tendency to be unwoven by the media at night. Instead, he said, the media must complement learning at school.

Preparing Individuals for Citizenship and Participation

Building a culture of peace also means preparing individuals for citizenship and participation in societies which are, increasingly opening up to democratic practices. "This common trend toward democratization is progressively leaving more space for civil society. Until now, nearly all this space was occupied by the state," said Mr Mayor. Countries like El Salvador and Mozambique are seeking to reconstruct and reidentify themselves in the aftermath of civil war. The decentralization of educational systems is but one aspect of this democratization. In the process, new roles are emerging for national,

regional and municipal levels. They involve increased participation and the forming of new partnerships, both to broaden the resource base for education and make it a shared responsibility. "I participate, therefore I exist," said Mr Mayor. Participation is

"Education Must not be left in the hands of small local groups or Submitted to parochial interests as these interests usually disadvantage some groups, especially women."

Gennet Zewide, Minister of Education, Ethiopia

synonymous with citizenship, understanding options and making choices, a right that cannot be exercised without education. This will require a thorough and continuous revision of educational contents at all levels, so that both children and adults are made aware of their civil rights and learn to exercise them.

Decentralization also involves the risk of growing disparities in content and quality. In this shifting national and international landscape, the state has a decisive role to play in checking disparities, ensuring equality of educational opportunities and maintaining an overall cohesion in the educational system. "The state must remain accountable for EFA, especially basic education. Education must not be left in the hands of small local groups or submitted to parochial interests as these interests usually disadvantage some groups, especially women," said Ms Zewide. "The state must be responsible for ensuring the propagation of desirable values by all educational agents." The constitution of Bangladesh, for instance, calls upon the state to adopt effective measures "relating education to the needs of the society and producing properly trained and motivated citizens to serve those needs."

"The school curriculum, Including teacher training, should incorporate gender concerns and relationships so that a culture of mutual respect and understanding, which eliminates Injustice and inequalities, is fostered in educational systems,"

Gennet Zewide, Minister of Education, Ethiopia

Fighting Exclusion to Reach All Groups

"How often don't we say that a person with no formal schooling, as in the case of two of my grandparents, is a source of wisdom," asked Mr. Makagiansar. "If this is true, why then deny him our recognition of being able to stand on his own and assume a lead in his community?"

If education really is to be for all, policies have to focus on reaching all groups and fighting against exclusion and social dis- ruption. This responsibility extends beyond the school system itself and remains a challenge throughout life.

In particular, the education of girls and women is of paramount importance. Insofar as societies fail to educate girls and women, their development will continue to he hampered and skewed. Putting education on the "witness stand," Ethiopia's minister of education asserted that economic, social and technological development had suffered as a result of women's exclusion from the educational systems. Tracing a historical fresco of Ethiopia's various centers of learning, from churches in the fourth century to Koranic schools in the seventh, she underlined that "both traditional and modern systems of education paid little or no attention to empowering women through education." Despite very recent progress in increasinggirls' access to education, women remain in a subordinate role, as reflected in a boy- oriented curriculum, inequalities in access to science and technology vocations, and teachers who are untrained to look at the problems and needs of girl students. Ms Zewide urged that the shaping of curricula and teacher training take women's views into consideration, and reflect a greater concern with mutual respect, social justice and equity-

Similarly, the role of education as an antidote to social exclusion concerns ethnic and cultural minorities, as well as the disabled, whose educational needs cannot appropriately be met by mainstream education. The latest communication technology especially satellite television to develop distance education, is a valuable tool in reaching remote areas and populations. Governments are becoming aware, hesitantly, that hundreds of millions of street children, who lead a life without a future in rapidly growing cities, constitute an overriding educational challenge. While the, long-term objective must be to alleviate poverty, and hence child labour, there is an urgent need to provide immediate support to these children through health services, feeding programmes and informal education schemes.

Reaching these groups requires participation by all. In this endeavour to provide access and quality education to all, a certain parity of esteem between formal mainstream and non-

formal alternatives needs to be ensured. This calls for open and permeable education systems which avoid blind alleys for the least fortunate. Kate Torkington of the Bernard van Leer Foundation suggested that new methods of teaching and education developed in the field of early childcare and non-formal adult and popular education be studied in an attempt to improve the quality and relevance of primary education. It is only by opening up to these alternatives that educational systems will have a capacity to embrace, rather than exclude, to teach tolerance, rather than prejudice. In this field, education at all levels must contribute to the fight against the growing and dangerously disruptive social problems of crime, drug abuse and AIDS. At the threshold of the International Year of the Family, it is also opportune to ask what education can do to strengthen and protect the family.

Promoting Gender Equity and Respect for the Environment

Sustainable development requires above all human development through education. By expanding educational facilities in rural areas, and especially reaching women and girls, patterns of migration and urbanization can be stalled. A Third World capital like Lagos already has a population density 13 times that of New York city. Besides recognizing and enhancing their capacity to contribute to development, the education of women and girls has a positive impact on slowing down population growth, one of the major brakes on achieving EFA. Young children develop attitudes and values early. Education can and should play an important role in promoting gender equity, respect of the environment and other values. For this, " the methods used in teaching and teacher training must be changed to ensure emphasis on learning rather than teaching, on the empowerment of students, and the encouragement of critical reflection," said Kate Torkington of the van Leer Foundation, stressing the need for students to participate in their own learning process. This will not only help girls, but also male students to critically examine their own roles in societies. The UNFPA has made population education a major component of its assistance in nearly 100 developing countries. It includes topics that the youth of today will have to confront throughout their lives.

On a global scale and in every single society, preventive action will have to be taken against the overexploitation of environmental resources. "Over-population and industrial technology have contributed in various ways to severe degradation of the natural environment upon which we are completely dependent," said Karan Singh, calling for "a holistic and ecological approach" to education. With their active industrial development, the largest and most populous countries will need to be at the very forefront in introducing environmental education into basic education programmes, strengthening science and technology education and promoting the necessary cooperation and training amongst universities.

Adapting to Rapid Change in the Workplace

In the domain of economic growth, work and employment, the role of education will increasingly be to help individuals and entire societies to cope with even more rapid change and to come up with a new distribution between learning, work and leisure throughout life. The achievement of education for all will be a requisite, in developing nations, for

the necessary broadening of the manufacturing base. As China shifts toward a market economy for example, it is investing more heavily in technical and vocational facilities, and integrated adult education. More generally, rigid models of technical and vocational education will need to be reconsidered in favour of more effective and affordable partnerships between the state and private industry.

Ethiopia's minister of education decried the "vicious circle between work and education" that maintains women in a subordinate position. Giving women access to traditionally male fields of training and employment is imperative if economics are to develop more equitably. Similary, Mr Mayor said that societies will have to consider job- sharing, and create jobs linked to the field of ecology and the environment.

Educational practioners have often failed to apprehend what type of new attitudes, values and visions are necessary to cope with the impact of science and technology. "lit this regard, it is ironic that teacher colleges and the teaching profession in general show little interest in matters of the immediate future, riot to speak of the distant one," said Mr. Makagiansar. Instead, he said, MBA professors were the ones who stressed the need for novel educational technologies and greater knowledge of the nature of society we were moving towards in order to respond to changes and anticipate trends.

The strategies of economic growth opted for by the developing countries, should in the future be increasingly based on human resource development, in particular, education for all. If preference were to be given to growth based on capital investments in certain key sectors only, economic disparities within societies and between regions risk becoming more pronounced Increasing poverty coinciding with illiteracy and high fertility might then contrast with the technological achievements and wealth generated by a small, privileged sector of society. It is this scenario which educational policies should try to avoid at all costs.

The problem of child labour, both in cities and the countryside, involving hundreds of millions of children all over the world, continues to be deeply rooted in the economic and socio-cultural traditions of many countries. Already, educational experiences are under way which give working children opportunities to learn and obtain qualifications without necessarily cutting off their livelihood. In the Indian state of Bihar, for example, characterized by a high level of illiteracy and a predominantly rural population, children from poor families are rarely able to pursue an education. To reach them, the government has set up Charvaha Schools that integrate learning with work anti vocational training.

Improving the teaching of sciences

For the developing world, learning and mastery of science and technology are seen as pre-conditions for emerging from economic dependency. The research and development gap between the North and South constitutes an enormous challenge for education in developing countries: today the share of their work force in the R & D sector is only one-tenth of what it is in the industrialized North; higher education enrolment ratios tend to be four times less. While developing countries are home to 80 per cent of the world's population, they provide only 4 per cent of its R & D budget.

"Developing countries should participate in scientific research at the global level," said a member of the Egyptian delegation, stressing the need for developing countries to cooperate among themselves. Indeed, this enhanced participation could play a part in halting, and reverting, the brain drain, which deprives developing countries not only of their R & D personnel, but also of the costly education investments necessary to train them. Nevertheless, the largest developing countries do have a critical mass of scientific and technical personnel and thus, a large employment market with considerable holding power.

The required osmosis between education, science and research will have to start as early as primary level, where every society should endeavour to adapt the concept of "scientific and technological literacy" to its own conditions. "Curricula and research should concentrate on the needs of each society in an action-oriented approach and not theoretical abstract research," said a representative of the Egyptian delegation. Educational policies will need to give more attention to science and mathematics education and, in particular, monitor actual achievement levels of students in these domains. Furthermore, Ethiopia's minister of education called for the greater participation of women in scientific development and urged that research and progress be more gender sensitive.

Mastering scientific research also means that societies have to come to grips with the ethical dimensions of scientific progress. The issues at stake in such areas as biogenetics, for instance, have to become the subject of public information, education and debate. At the same time, education must benefit from the latest results of science and technology. Both have an enormous potential for increasing the outreach capacity of educational systems. "Satellite technology has provided a powerful new tool for the transmission of information," said Karan Singh. "I find that in our generation there is still a curious reluctance to realize and accept the fact that information transmission is going to be substantially changed in the 21st century. The universalization of education, particularly in developing nations, will require new technologies." Already distance education programmes in the large and populous countries go a long way in reaching those hitherto excluded from educational services. They achieve this at lesser cost and, often with better quality, than conventional schools.

The sharing of experience is a first step toward adapting educational systems to a common, universal vision founded on a "culture of peace". International agencies have a key role to play in capacity-building and supporting the long-term development of education systems. In this task, having the courage and farsightedness to maintain a long- term vision is one of the principal challenges faced by governments and donors alilke. Short-term concerns tend to cast a shadow upon the intricate and dynamic links between education and society. "Our new era is a witness to the shift from musclepower to brainpower," said Mr Makagiansar. "Functional literacy and basic knowledge should not be static but once acquired, should enable the person to take initiative, to engage in the excitement of creating things, to discover new horizons of knowledge and culture, to become independent and yet appreciate the interdependency between peoples.

To foster this creativity and initiative, educational planners, policymakers and governments will have to show sensitivity and open- mindedness towards improving the quality of education, the training of teachers, as well as their status and role in society. The African Development Bank is devoting 15 per cent of its assistance to education, with specific attention to programmes focused on improving quality. UNESCO is preparing improved Teacher Training Packages.

UNESCO's Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century is focusing Oil six major areas of enquiry:

Education and Culture

Building a "culture of peace" is the first and foremost challenge facing educational systems the world over. The main defenses of this peace will need to be constructed in the minds of men, women and children. Education must impart values of non-violence, tolerance and social justice. In the emerging global society, the safe-guarding of cultural identities will be increasingly critical.

Education, the Nation State and Citizenship

Education needs to prepare individuals for citizenship and participation in societies which are increasingly opening up to democratic practice. This will require a thorough and continuous revision of educational contents at all levels. At the same time, there are signs that the role of the state in education is undergoing profound changes, while a plurality of social agents assume coresponsibility for the educational enterprise.

Education and the Social Fabric

Education has an extremely crucial role to play in strengthening the social fabric, promoting cohesion through equality and fighting against exclusion and social disruption.

Reaching street children, ensuring equal educational opportunities for women and girls and a parity of esteem between formal mainstream education and non-formal alternatives constitute major challenges.

Education and Sustainable Development

Through education, societies will be able to bring about the new values and the knowledge they need to cope with such problems as excessive population growth or the depletion of environmental resources. The complexity of environmental issues will require much greater emphasis on interdisciplinarity in both education and research.

Education, Economic Growth and Employment

In the domain of economic growth, work and employment, the role of education will increasingly be to help individuals and entire societies to cope with even more rapid change and to come up with a new distribution between learning, work and leisure throughout life. Technological change affecting even the most traditional occupational fields will require greater emphasis on "learning to learn".

Education, Research and the Progress of Science

Educational policies have an extremely important role to play in improving the learning and mastery of science and technology, viewed as pre-conditions for emerging

from economic dependency. The required osmosis between education, science and research will have to start as early as primary level where every society should endeavour to adapt the concept of "scientific and technological literacy".

Conclusion: To Global Problems, Global Solutions

In an increasingly global and complex world, education must become inter-disciplinary and learning more participatory. It should be rooted in values of non-violence, equity and justice. In this task, there is room for calling upon the resources of a broad cross-section of society, as well as the cultural and spiritual heritage of each country. Environmental depletion, population growth, the disruption of the family, technological change and other phenomena cannot he dealt with in a fragmented way. "In sonic ways, we are fighting a losing battle. The side of horror and violence seems to be winning", said Karan Singh. "Unless the EFA programme is linked to the, propagation of global, universal and desirable value systems, it will not be of any avail. If the nine populous nations can pool their resources, energies, wisdom, then perhaps we can make a better world for all children on this planet." Parents, teachers, the media, and the community all have an important role to play in the EFA in movement. The responsibility for shaping tomorrow is held in many hands. "It has been said that what matters is the world we leave to our children," said Mr Mayor. "I disagree. I think that what matters is the children we will leave to our world."

PANEL FOUR "EDUCATION AND SOCIETY" (UNESCO)

"Education and Society" (UNESCO)