UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION. Address by

Transcription

1 DG/91/16 UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION Address by Mr Federico Mayor Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) to the International Symposium on Rural Education in the Developing Countries Taian, Shandong Province of China, 18 June 1991 _-----

2 Mr Chairman, Your Excellencies, Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure for me to be with you today at the opening of this International Symposium on Rural Education in Developing Countries, which is being held in the birthplace of Kung Fu-tse, the Master Kung, or Confucius as he is known in the Latinised version of his name in the West. The ideas of this great teacher, sage and philosopher - perhaps the most famous of all Chinese scholars and thinkers - have influenced not only the civilizations of eastern Asia but other parts of the world as well. It is therefore particularly fitting that this international symposium should be taking place here, in this historic spot. Confucius was, above all else, a teacher-writer whose ideas were for more than 2,000 years expressed in books that provided the basic curriculum for Chinese education. It is for this reason that he must be counted as one of the most influential men of all time. It is of interest to recall that Confucius was largely self-taught but that did not prevent him from becoming the most learned man of his day. At the same time, it should be emphasised that for Confucius learning was not removed from the business of daily life. His experience as a Minister of Works and then as a Minister of Crime, as well as his many visits to states in the company of a group of disciples, brought him in touch with human problems and gave him an insight into the political and social conditions of his age. He was greatly disturbed by what he saw and in consequence he became a reformer and his teaching took on a social and moral tone. Confucius was a believer in moral action and in what we today call human development, and he advocated the establishment of harmony within the social order. Confucius is, thus, a particularly appropriate guide for us on this occasion. For rural education must be practical as well as theoretical and must, above all, take into account and harmonize both the needs of the individual and the requirements of the community at large. As you know, this International Symposium is a follow-up to The World Conference on Education for All, which was held at Jomtien, Thailand, in March 1990 and which was sponsored by UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP and the World Bank. This Conference marked a milestone in the history of education and occasioned rethinking and reflection in all parts of the world on the nature, aims and objectives of education and the means by which it can be extended to all without discrimination as to agei sex or other considerations. This process is still going on and your presence here today is a part of that process. The subject before you - Rural Education in Developing Countries - is of the greatest importance. Most of the deprived and vulnerable millions living in the world today are to be found in rural areas. While the problems faced by urban communities are not to be underestimated, it must nevertheless be recognizedthat it is in the rural areas that the greatest disparities in human development are to be found. Rural populations make up 58 per cent of the world's total. In the least-developed countries the

3 - 2 - rural population is 82 per cent of the total and in all developing countries it is 67 per cent. In industrial countries the rural population is only 28 per cent of the total. All major problems of human development are to be found in the rural areas of the world. Today more than a billion people live in absolute poverty. Nearly 950 million adults are illiterate billion people lack safe drinking water, and about 100 million are homeless and 800 million go hungry each day. 150 million children under the age of five are malnourished and 30 million of them die annually while 100 million have no access whatsoever to primary education. The literary rate in the least-developed countries is 37 per cent, in developing countries it is 60 per cent and in industrial countries it is 98 per cent. Drop-out rates in primary schools are 60 per cent in the least-developed countries and 39 per cent in developing ones, while in industrial countries the rate is only 11 per cent. In school enrolments and in access to literary instruction, girls and women are consistently at a disadvantage in comparison with males, and rural illiteracy is twice the urban rate, with women again in the minority as far as learning opportunities are concerned. It should be noted that some 650 million of the world's 950 million illiterates live in the five most populous countries of Asia, namely: China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh. What we are dealing with here, it must be remembered, is the denial of a basic human right, which is the right to education. If vast numbers of the world's population continue to be denied this right, then human development and social and economic progress will inevitably remain out of their reach. Education in rural areas presents a particular challenge, for it is here that traditions and modernity must be reconciled, here that time-honoured values must be preserved while innovations in life and work are pursued. In this respect, the situation of rural women merits special attention. If the rural areas are often deprived and poorly served in comparison with urban areas, rural women are often the first and main victims of such deprivation and the lack of even the most elementary social services. In countries around the world, women toil from dawn to dusk, in their homes serving their families and in the fields helping in what is often a harsh struggle for survival. But it is not for the sake of justice alone that I appeal for priority measures to redress the plight of rural women. It is because, as is increasingly recognized, meaningful rural progress is not possible without the development and utilization of the talents of women. Rural development calls for profound social, economic and technological transformations, Achieving these will depend, in very large measure, upon the mobilization and education of the entire population and, in particular, on improving the education of girls and women - who are, at once, the most educationally deprived part of the population and that with the greatest unexploited potential and talent. Hence, policies that favour education for women are not only socially enlightened but also economically sound and essential.

4 -3- It is appropriate that this symposium should be held not only in the place where Confucius was born, but also in the country where the question of providing education for rural populations has been a major preoccupation for many years and where much effort has been exerted to try to find solutions to the problems encountered when attempting to extend educational opportunities to areas and peoples that have formerly been denied them. China's vast experience in conducting literacy campaigns, in introducing skills training and simple and intermediate technologies to rural communities, in adapting curricula to meet rural priorities and needs, in the development of appropriate reading materials and in adopting innovative approaches to education are all well known and I hope that while you are here you will have the opportunity to learn more about them and to exchange ideas on them. In this regard, I should mention that in the field of rural education UNESCO has co-operated with the Government of China in the organization of more than 30 workshops for the training of literacy and adult education workers. In addition, in 1987 a pilot education project was set up in two provinces, Sichuan and Jilin. This project has now been extended to a third province - Hebei. This is an example of how UNESCO can collaborate with governments in the development of programmes. The range of topics with which you have to deal is wide and covers both in-school and out-of-school education and the means by which they can be provided, not just to school-age children but to all members of the community without exception. You will also have to take into account the fact that declared goals, such as the universalization of primary education and the eradication of illiteracy, are inherently challenging and difficult to achieve. It does not suffice to proclaim them; one also has to work to achieve them. Pragmatism must be the watchword: idealistic approaches that fail to take into account the realities of the situation are doomed to failure. Constraints in the way of implementation of programmes must be taken into account. This does not mean, of course, that we should not continue to strive to overcome these limitations, by giving education the priority which it deserves. It must be understood that present budgetary resources available to governments are limited and, while it is desirable that allocations for education should be increased, clear indications should be given as to how they are to be found. Traditional methods of financing education programmes will not always suffice and new approaches to meeting the cost of providing education will have to be sought. Consideration should also be given to the fact that governments alone cannot assume all the responsibility for bringing education to all. Non-governmental organizations, voluntary services, and local communities can all contribute to human development and to social and economic advancement. Self-reliant approaches which encourage local initiative and community participation in both decision-making and local responsibility will be necessary if significant progress is to be made. Among the problems you are to address are those linked to the organization, scheduling and content of curricula and programmes, the publication of relevant reading materials and the

5 - 4 - production of appropriate educational aids, the development of technical and vocational training and the use of more costeffective approaches such as distance education. All these topics have been dealt with in the Working Paper for the symposium, which merits your close attention. It goes without saying that the teacher is, in this case and in all others, the main participant in the education process, the key to success. But there are other issues, too, which you may wish to consider. These include the effects of urbanization on rural life, with the resulting over-population in towns and the sprouting of slums and bidonvilles accompanied by increased crime, lower standards of public health and growing demands upon what are already over-burdened social services. In rural areas this migration to urban centres can lead to the closure of the few schools to be found there and this in turn causes even further neglect and deprivation. I very much hope that this symposium will result in some practical proposals for bringing education to deprived rural communities. These programmes should indicate the action to be taken and give careful consideration - as I have suggested - to the constraints that will be faced - social, economic, cultural, etc. Although the size of the task waiting to be carried out is daunting and there are many hurdles to be overcome, it would be wrong to end this address on a note of pessimism. Many countries have already made considerable progress in expanding educational services despite the obstacles with which they were confronted. Literacy campaigns have been conducted even when conditions have been unfavourable and have met with success. Primary schools have been built in countries where resources were meagre. So we know that much can be done where there is a will to bring about change. I encourage you to tackle your work in a spirit of hope and with a determination to find solutions to the problems which face us. I wish your symposium every possible success.