MALAYSIA TO GET COMMONWEALTH TO ADOPT EFA AGENDA

From Leslean Arshad
PARIS, Oct 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysia, as a staunch supporter of the Education for All (EFA) agenda, is eyeing to get Commonwealth countries to adopt the agenda, which is being pursued through the backing of Unesco with regional collaboration from the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (Seameo).

Education Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said that Malaysia,
with the experience gained from the partnership and collaboration between the
United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and
Seameo members, was confident of replicating the strategies adopted in the EFA
agenda with the 58 Commonwealth countries.


"We would appreciate support from the Commonwealth member countries present
here to realise this endeavour. What better way to celebrate our 50th
(Commonwealth) anniversary by adopting this noble cause together," he said at
the Unesco executive board meeting here on Wednesday.

Hishammuddin's statement seems timely as Malaysia will be hosting the 17th
Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in June next year.

Stressing that the EFA must not fail, he said Malaysia believed that the
foundation had been laid and the concerted momentum was real.

"We acknowledge that this must be built upon and sustained as we move
towards 2015."


Malaysia, at the invitation of Unesco Director-General Koichiro Matsuura,
had given its commitment to be present at the EFA high-level group meeting in
Oslo, Norway, in December.

Touching on the erratic global economic situation, Hishammuddin said that
in
the face of the current budgetary constraints, escalating costs and the global
economic financial uncertainties, it was critical that Unesco committed itself
to the accelerated implementation of programmes to affirm its role as a global
institution to address common problems.

"To do otherwise would betray the trust and hope that millions have placed
on us," he said.

The burden of responsibility weighed heavily on Unesco as the tasks ahead
were enormous as there were about three million children in Southeast Asia who
were not in schoo l while about 34.3 million adults in the region were unable to
read and write.

They were mostly society's under privileged and often the most difficult to
reach, he said.

As 2015 loomed, a major concern was how to bring the 'unreached' groups
into
the mainstream, especially when even those in the mainstream were at risk due to
the present global financial crisis, he said.



Hishammuddin, who is also the Seameo president, said Unesco needed to
understand that reaching the "unreached" was beyond the logistics of physically
bringing together children in a classroom.

The problem had a socio-cultural dimension that required more
awareness-raising strategies to encourage their participation in the education
system.

"The fragmented nature of those we identify as 'the unreached' means that
our strategies have to be tailored to suit the unique context of these groups
that may have diverging aspirations and concerns that pose different sets of
challenges," he added.

Malaysia, he said, also supported Unesco's work on the situation of
educational and cultural institutions in the occupied Arab territories and its
contribution to the reconstruction and development of similar institutions in
Iraq, Lebanon and Cote d'Ivoire.

Hishammuddin also spoke on the need for greater technical assistance from
the Unesco and World Heritage Centre on the preparation of nomination dossiers
to inscribe properties on the World Heritage List in order to make the list
truly representative, balanced and credible.

-- BERNAMA