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| Subject Forum adopts Incheon Declaration | ||
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| Name 관리자 | Hit 987 | |
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Participants commit to quality education for all By Jung Min-ho INCHEON _ By 2030, all "citizens of the world" will have free access to nine-year primary and secondary education as well as affordable lifelong learning opportunities, the World Education Forum (WEF) declared Thursday. At the close of the forum at the Songdo Convensia, more than 1,500 education policymakers and experts from around the world agreed on the Incheon Declaration, a pledge for a more equitable and inclusive global education that will leave "no one behind." The new blueprint for the next 15 years also includes expanded preschool education, affordable higher education for work, improved literacy among children and adults, gender parity in education and education for sustainable development (ESD). "Our vision is to transform lives through education, recognizing the important role of education as a main drive of development," the declaration reads. "Building on the legacy of Jomtien and Dakar, this Incheon Declaration is a historic commitment by all of us to transform lives through a new vision for education, with bold and innovative actions, to reach our ambitious goal by 2030." Three targeted actions have been established to achieve the goals. First, participants are required to "build and upgrade education facilities that are inclusive and effective learning environments for all." Second, they will expand the number of scholarships for developing countries, where many students struggle to enroll in higher education because of financial difficulty. In addition, participants promised to increase investments in training teachers, especially in poor countries, through international cooperation. The proclamation will be adopted at the 38th UNESCO General Assembly in November, along with the outcomes of the U.N. Special Summit on Sustainable Development in September. "We reaffirm that education is a public good, a fundamental human right and a basis for guaranteeing the realization of other rights," the declaration said. "It is essential for peace, tolerance, human fulfillment and sustainable development. We recognize education as key to achieving full employment and poverty eradication." With this fresh vision, the curtains fell on the forum, which brought world leaders such as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova together in the port city west of Seoul. During his closing address, Korea's Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea said that Korea will keep trying hard to help the world achieve the targeted goals. "We will continue to share our experience and wisdom with other countries," he said. "Education is the most efficient investment for individual happiness and nation development." Hwang and Bokova promised to provide $6 million in aid to Rwanda, Mozambique and Zimbabwe over the next three years to help them develop information and communication technologies for education. Hwang also asked the international community to help Nepal, which is still reeling from the massive earthquakes that struck near Kathmandu last month, by building more schools in the troubled country. He noted that it is important to continue to educate children who will play a vital role in reconstructing Nepal. Notably, the WEF adopted the ESD based on a World Bank report that said the world can only achieve sustainable growth by allowing everyone to learn the knowledge and skills for economic growth through quality education. The bank said education will help end extreme poverty as it increases earnings for hired workers, leads educated women to help themselves and their families and boosts overall economic growth. During the forum, the bank, which aims to end extreme poverty by 2030, announced that it will allocate $5 billion _ double its spending of the previous five years _ to improve the quality of global education over the next five years. The World Bank has adopted a results-based financing system, in which countries only get money if they meet agreed performance targets. President Kim said proper investment in education and better results in classrooms "will help end extreme poverty." For now, an estimated 58 million children around the world remain out of school, with 250 million unable to read or write, although they attended school for some years. More than 200 million young people do not complete primary school and are ill-prepared for work, while some 782 million adults cannot read or write. The "Education for All" movement was launched in 1990 when the World Conference on Education for All was held in Jomtien, Thailand, to ensure everybody's right to education. The Jomtien Declaration adopted six education goals. Ten years later, the WEF was held in Dakar, Senegal, where participants reaffirmed their determination and set more specific goals. Only one-third of 164 countries accomplished one of the goals _ making primary education available for all children. But Bokova said this was still "tremendous progress" toward education for all. The Incheon Declaration placed a greater emphasis on the quality of education, rather than concentrating on the number of pupils in school. |
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