Education to host Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers, 10 to
14 Dec

6 December 2006

Over 900 delegates, including 39 Education Ministers from 53 member states
will descend on Cape Town over this weekend for the 16th Conference of
Commonwealth Education Ministers (16CCEM) taking place at the CTICC from 10 to
14 December 2006. The 39 Education Ministers will be accompanied by high level
education officials while Directors-General and other senior government
officials will represent the remaining 14 states.

The theme of the conference is: "Access to Quality Education: for the Good
of All." Held triennially, these conferences provide an opportunity for
Commonwealth 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 conference also announces the winners of the Commonwealth Good Practice
Awards which recognise positive practices in education. Three South African
institutions are among the nine global finalists. They are the Centre for Early
Childhood Development in Cape Town, the Generation of Leaders Discovered (GOLD)
peer education development project, also in the Western Cape and Art Therapy
Centre in Gauteng.

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. He is also 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 the 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 globalised 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 to priority areas of work for the next three
years.

Alongside the main Ministerial Conference, the 16CCEM will incorporate three
parallel events: the Youth Forum, 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 2006. Six Good Practice Awards will be awarded in total.

The ministers will receive statements from the youth, teachers and
stakeholder forums. They are expected to issue a Ministerial Communiqué and a
Message to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which will be held in
Uganda in 2007.

Enquiries:
Manoah Esipisu, Official Spokesperson and Deputy Director of Communications,
Commonwealth Secretariat
Tel: (440) 78 944 62021
E-mail: M.Esipisu@commonwealth.int

Dean Ebden
Cell: (011) 837-4769
E-mail: deane@vukilecomm.co.za

Media accreditation:
Dean Ebden
Tel: (011) 837-4769
E-mail: deane@vukilecomm.co.za

Media invitation: Graca Machel, Don Mckinnon and Minister Naledi Pandor at
the opening of the Stakeholder’s Forum of the 16TH CCEM.

The 16th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers takes place at the
CTICC from 10 to 14 December 2006.

The first keynote address to the conference takes place on Sunday, 10
December
2006 at 11h00

Graca Machel, trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation will address
delegates and will be joined by Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon and
Education Minister Naledi Pandor.

The media is invited to cover this event:

Date: Sunday, 10 December 2006
Venue: Ballroom East, Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC)
Time: 11h00

RSVP/Enquiries: Dean Ebden
Tel: (011) 837 4769
Cell: 082 371 7340

Issued by: Department of Education
6 December 2006