> OPENING ADDRESS BY MR W NOEL LEVI, CBE, SECRETARY GENERAL, PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM SECRETARIAT AT THE FORUM EDUCATION MINISTERS MEETING, Auckland, New Zealand; 14-15 May 2001
> Honourable Ministers
> The representative from the Department for International Development
> (otherwise known as DFID), United Kingdom
> Fellow CROP Representatives
> Ladies and Gentlemen
> It is my pleasure to welcome you all to this first ever meeting of Forum
> Education Ministers.
> 2. As you know this meeting was to have taken place in Niue. However,
> changes to flight arrangements have made this, much to my regret,
> impossible. I would like to express my appreciation to the Government of
> Niue for the understanding they have shown of our dilemma in having to shift
> this meeting to Auckland.
> 3. Special thanks are due to the United Kingdom who, through the DFID
> office in Suva, has generously funded this meeting. A thank you is also due to
> the Vice Chancellor and staff of the USP for their support and assistance with
> preparations for this meeting, and the Government of New Zealand for
> assisting us with the rearrangements necessary to hold the meeting in
> Auckland at short notice.
> 4. Our thanks are also due to UNICEF, not only for their contribution to
> preparations for this meeting, but also for having kindly offered to host lunch
> today.
> 5. The Secretariat in preparing for this meeting has consulted widely. We
> are appreciative of the participation of many agencies, particularly our sister
> regional organisation, USP. DFID, as well as funding this meeting, supported
> the preparation of background research. We have worked closely with
> UNESCO in the joint hosting of last year> '> s Directors of Education meeting in
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> Nauru where the early draft of the Agenda was discussed and in the
> preparation of the paper on Education for All. We are also appreciative of the
> work UNESCO and the Directors of Education have undertaken in the
> preparation of the Technical Education and Training paper.
> 6. In a new and successful initiative for us we have involved a wide range
> of people representing Pacific NGOs, UN agencies and various departments
> of the USP in focus group discussions on each of the key papers that have
> been prepared for this meeting. These have been very useful discussions. Not
> only has this resulted in high quality papers for your consideration, but also it
> sets for us a precedent for future policy meetings.
> 7. Education became a focus of attention at the 1998 Forum in Pohnpei.
> Leaders noted then that education and human resource development is critical
> to private sector growth. This theme was later taken up by the Forum
> Economic Ministers Meeting in Apia in 1999. This was the result of a survey
> undertaken on barriers to growth of the private sector, which revealed that the
> basic literacy and numeric skills of entrants into the labour force fell woefully
> short of requirements. The Economic Ministers then decided that education
> and related human resource development issues needed to be tackled by
> Ministers with the expertise and the mandate for this area.
> 8. This is a recognition that education is at the heart of the development of
> our societies and it is a right for all. Education is a cornerstone of economic
> development. As the then Prime Minister of Tonga said at the Forum Leaders
> meeting in 1998, > "> the prime role of education in economic growth is based on
> the need for skilled manpower to generate new ideas, enhance productivity
> and encourage our people to fulfill their true potential in our social and
> economic development.> ">
> 9. These comments reflect the primary concern across the region, which is
> how to better meet the needs and aspirations of the upcoming generation. As
> reported by the UNDP, 20% of the region> '> s population is aged between 15 to
> 24 years - a total of 1.4 million people, a number which is expected to rise by>
> a further 300,000 by the year 2010. Many school leavers find they have
> inadequate or inappropriate skills for the few waged jobs that are available,
> for agricultural work or for other types of livelihood. Most lack opportunities
> to upgrade their skills because too few non-formal training programmes are
> available.
> 10. This in turn reflects the situation of education in the Pacific which,
> while varying from country to country, is generally weak and deteriorating.
> 3
> While the available data has weaknesses and hides significant variations
> between regions within countries, key common problems include:
> · Literacy rates, while statistically high, have been found to be
> suspect;
> · Though school enrolment rates are generally high, recent regional
> tests show relatively low levels of achievement at the primary
> level in language, computation and scientific skills;
> · At the secondary level there is evidence that standards are well
> below those of the Pacific Rim countries, with many Pacific
> islanders who go overseas for further study having to first undergo
> preparatory work;
> · Rapid population growth has led to increased pressure to expand
> education systems, contributing to severe teacher and teaching
> material shortages;
> · The poor quality of educational outputs reflects also the problem
> of access for remote regions and islands and by certain sections of
> the population.
> 11. In all of this a significant factor is the weakness in basic education.
> This leads to wastage at the secondary and tertiary levels and at training. The
> basics of literacy, science, mathematics and ethics have to be absorbed by
> young people if they are to be productive and responsive to new opportunities
> at the later stage. Evidence also points to a clear correlation between strong
> basic education on one hand and improvements in technical skills uptake, in
> work and social adaptation, and in other social indicators of better health,
> nutrition and reduced fertility.
> 12. Basic education should thus be viewed as the fundamental building
> block for society, laying the foundation for either a vocational calling or for
> pursuing education to higher levels. If the foundation is weak then livelihoods
> are more difficult to pursue or students struggle in the higher reaches of
> education. Moreover, the impact of basic education goes beyond this.
> Through the teaching of health, culture, governance, geography and so on it
> can generate the broader life skills that lead to social cohesion which, when
> combined with an enhancing of employment opportunities, thus enhancing
> individual and social security.
> 13. The Forum is presently engaged in a number of initiatives, against a
> background of more general reform, designed to improve the prospects for
> development. This focuses particularly on enhancing opportunities for private
> sector development and to better meet the challenges of globalisation as a
> single region. These initiatives include the Forum island country free trade
> 4
> area initiative and the proposal for a Forum island region open skies policy in
> aviation.
> 14. To take best advantage of these initiatives our peoples must be well
> prepared, through education, to be life-long learners, entrepreneurs, managers
> and employees. Being better-educated means having the skills, knowledge
> and confidence to seek out and take up income earning opportunities, to
> interact with confidence with your society and to face and exploit the
> challenges posed for us by the rest of the world.
> 15. This meeting will focus on basic education. If we cannot construct
> appropriate basic education systems, then higher education is wasted and our
> young people will be significantly disadvantaged - in countries that have
> already many disadvantages - in earning a living, improving their quality of
> life and in feeling secure.>
> 16. We have also tried to place this meeting in its global context and make
> specific reference to the commitments made through the World Education For
> All Forum held in Dakar, Senegal last year. This global forum committed the
> international community to ensuring that universal access to quality basic
> education is achieved and sustained by 2015. The core message that came out
> of this World Education Forum is that basic learning needs of all can and
> must be met urgently.
> 17. In the new, knowledge-centred, global economy, no country can
> succeed without education. Those of you who were at Dakar will recall that
> participants spoke movingly about an ideal world in which every individual,
> child and adult alike, had command of the basic literacy and numeracy skills
> needed to function as a citizen, worker, family member and fulfilled
> individual in the emerging global society. They reminded each other that
> achieving this dream only depends on the political will by all partners
> involved.
> 18. Our region faces many challenges in delivering basic education. High
> population growth in recent years and the diverse island nature of many
> Pacific countries means that the cost of investing in education is high. In
> many countries there is a shortage of properly trained teachers and classrooms
> are under resourced. These constraints serve to seriously undermine the
> quality of basic education. This means that our governments need to
> especially consider resource constraints, and prioritisation of their activities.
> 19. There are various tools that we can employ to address these constraints
> including building a strong partnership with civil society, the private sector
> 5
> and the church in the delivery of education. Developing basic education
> delivery mechanisms that more adequately reflect the aspirations and needs of
> our communities will also ensure community commitment and support as well
> as full participation and relevance.
> 20. In addressing resource constraints governments should also change
> their mindset from regarding expenditure on education as an expense to
> regarding it as an investment - indeed, as being the most valuable investment
> that any society could ever make. In this regard it may also be timely to
> consider guaranteeing that the necessary investment per child, or as a
> proportion of GDP, will be available and thereby ensuring a better future for
> our peoples.
> 21. Calls for recognising the importance of education for development and
> for improving the standard of living for peoples every where have become
> increasingly louder as the priority given to education has failed to be turned in
> to action. This is true also of the Pacific, where there seems to be no end to
> evidence of failings in the education system for our peoples.
> 22. As I mentioned earlier, by 2010 there will be nearly two million young
> people in our region. These people not only represent the region> '> s future, but
> also have their own aspirations. If our education systems fail them, then there
> will be quite rightly resentment and frustration on their part.
> 23. This meeting is an opportunity to develop strategies to meet the needs
> of these young people, regardless of what walk in life they choose to follow.
> This means providing them with the basic tools for vocational and academic
> callings, and indeed, life long learning in an ever changing world. While
> education remains fundamentally a national responsibility, a meeting such as
> this can serve to reinforce our collective determination for action and to share
> our worst and best experiences. It can also serve as a means for exploring
> ways in which to overcome the challenges our individual countries face
> through collective action.
> 24. This has been achieved already at the tertiary level with the University
> of the South Pacific. This is an opportunity to explore and consider means in>
> which our region can extend the spirit of cooperation to basic levels of
> education in a way that will demonstrate determination to deal with the
> education of all young people not through words but through action.
> Thank you.
> http://www.forumsec.org.fj/news/2001/May05.pdf
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