14 November 2006
The 16th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (16CCEM) will be
held in Cape Town, South Africa, on 11 to 14 December 2006. The theme of the
conference is 'Access to Quality Education: for the Good of All.'
Held triennially, these conferences provide an opportunity for Commonwealth
Education Ministers from all regions to exchange views and discuss developments
in education, review progress over the past three years, and develop strategies
for future work. The previous CCEM took place in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the
end of 2003.
The 16CCEM agenda will include a mix of plenary discussions and committees,
providing a forum to share experiences, best practices and successful
strategies.
The keynote address will be delivered by Professor Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert
Lehman, Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology, Columbia
University. Professor Mamdani is a chief advisor to the United Nations (UN)
High Level Panel on Alliance of Civilisations for 2005/06.
Within the context of the main theme, Ministers are expected to address such
issues as the sustainability of universal primary education and the expansion
of the secondary education sector. Some 27 million children in the commonwealth
are denied the right to education.
"This conference provides an opportunity for Commonwealth Ministers of
Education to reaffirm their commitment to getting every child into school, and
to share and discuss strategies for achieving progress towards this common
goal," said Dr Henry Kaluba, the Head of Education Section at Commonwealth
Secretariat.
The Ministers are also expected to consider the role of the teaching
profession in relation to the quality of education, what constitutes a quality
education in today's global world, and the role of the non-state sector in
education.
The conference will also receive reports from the Commonwealth Secretariat
and the Commonwealth of Learning. It will endorse work plans for both
organisations and agree on priority areas of work for the next three years.
Alongside the main Ministerial Conference, 16CCEM will incorporate three
parallel events: a Youth Forum, a Stakeholders' Forum (for civil society and
the private sector), and, for the first time, a Teachers' Forum. Another new
development for this conference is the introduction of the Commonwealth
Education Good Practice Awards. Nine finalists from Commonwealth Ministries of
Education, civil society and non-governmental organisations, have been chosen
to present their education good practices at the 16CCEM closing ceremony on 14
December. Six Good Practice Awards will be awarded in total.
The Ministers will receive statements from the Youth, Teacher, and
Stakeholder Forums. They are expected to issue a ministerial communique and a
message to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be held in Uganda in
2007.
Enquiries:
Communications and Public Affairs Division, Commonwealth Secretariat
Tel: (020) 7747 6379
E-mail: info@commonwealth.int
Dean Ebden
E-mail: deane@vukilecomm.co.za
Cornia Pretorius
E-mail: cpretor@gmail.com
Issued by: Department of Education
14 November 2006
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za)
