亚洲教育北京论坛

Education Forum for Asia

NEWSFLASH

                                                                                                          December 2005

In the News:  Current News and Events in Education and Asian Society

World AIDS Day 2005---December 1, 2005

World AIDS Day is commemorated around the globe on December 1. It celebrates progress made in the battle against the epidemic and brings into focus remaining challenges.  World AIDS Day 2005, themed “Stop AIDS. Keep the promise”, will focus on keeping commitments to stop AIDS at all levels: personal, community, organizational, governmental.  It supports the World AIDS Campaign advocacy efforts for the fulfillment of the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and subsequent policy commitments on AIDS.

World AIDS Campaign

The Campaign aims to hold the world community accountable to the commitments they make, while at the same time highlighting the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS as an important tool for ensuring a comprehensive response to the epidemic.

The World AIDS Campaign also aims to ensure individuals are actively engaged in the response under the theme "Stop AIDS.  Make the Promise."

Why the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS?

The agreement in 2001 by Heads of State and Representatives of Government to support the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS marked a milestone in the history of the AIDS epidemic. It sent a signal from governments that urgency would be needed in addressing the devastation of the global epidemic with leadership, honesty and action.

While nations around the world have made previous commitments to respond to HIV and AIDS within their own countries, this was the first time they gathered to recognize that AIDS was a global crisis requiring global action.

The Declaration set out specific commitments the international community would work to fulfill upon their return home including prevention campaigns, reducing stigma, building health infrastructures, providing necessary resources, and ensuring treatment, care and respect for people living with HIV or AIDS. In many cases, these commitments included specific deadlines, making the Declaration a powerful tool to guide and secure action, support and resources for all those fighting the epidemic, both within and outside government.

These historic commitments to action in support of a comprehensive AIDS response are not solely aimed at political leaders but at us all. Everyone has a role to play in responding to HIV and AIDS. We hope you will be inspired by these commitments and will support the World AIDS Campaign to ensure that everyone 'Keeps the Promise'.  As Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, said at the Special Session, "All of us must recognize AIDS as our problem.  All of us must make it our priority."  (Source:  UNAIDS.org)

World AIDS Day in Indonesia

The Vice President of Indonesia, H.E. Yusuf Kalla hosted an official World AIDS Day ceremony today at the Vice President's Palace and invited heads of 100 HIV/AIDS priority districts in Indonesia. In his official speech he urged the district heads to scale-up the AIDS response in these areas.

The Indonesian National AIDS Commission identifies there are at least 100 municipalities/regencies across 21 provinces in Indonesia that urgently need an accelerated comprehensive AIDS response.

Prior to the ceremony, Vice President H.E. Yusuf Kalla met privately with Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director, Suma Chakrabarti, Permanent Secretary to DfID and Bruce Davies, General Director of AusAID, who came together to Indonesia in an official joint AIDS mission.  At the end of the private meeting, the Vice President and the joint AIDS delegations also met with representatives of people living with HIV.

"Leadership & HIV/AIDS Response" is the theme of the national AIDS campaign in Indonesia. It is derived from the theme of global World AIDS Campaign 2005: "Keep the Promise", a theme that has been chosen to ensure that governments and policymakers around the world meet the targets they have agreed to in the fight against HIV and AIDS in UNGASS declaration of Commitments in 2001. The government of Indonesia believes that increasing leadership on AIDS is the most important target that the government of Indonesia must ensure in order to respond effectively to the AIDS epidemic in Indonesia.

In addition to the Vice President H.E. Yusuf Kalla, five cabinet Ministers attended the World AIDS Day event at the Vice President Palace - the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare as the Chair of the National AIDS Commission, the Minister of Home Affairs as the chair of the national AIDS campaign 2005 in Indonesia and Minister of Health.  (Source:  UNAIDS.org)

Afghanistan: A Digital Silk Road

Before the fall of the Taliban in November 2001, 27 million Afghan citizens had to make do with approximately 20,000 working telephone lines. Domestic connections were spotty, while only a handful of expensive satellite phones could dial internationally. Today, through the extraordinary efforts of the Afghan Wireless Communication Company and its parent company, Telephone Systems International (TSI), more than 300,000 citizens subscribe to the Afghan wireless network, with coverage in twenty cities and an additional twenty cities slated for service by the end of the summer.

The development of the Afghan wireless network has been the mission of Ehsan Bayat, an Afghan-American who fled Afghanistan in 1980. Observing the need for a comprehensive communications network in Afghanistan, Bayat partnered his United States-based company, TSI, with the Afghan Ministry of Communications to launch a wireless network that Bayat hopes will be “the digital artery of our nation, allowing communication, commerce, and electronic exchanges to flow easily among all Afghans.”

This digital network “leaves no part of Afghanistan untouched,” according to Bayat, who adds “by the end of the summer, we will have three-quarters of the nation covered.” The speed with which TSI and Afghan Wireless have been able to build the mobile network has made it the provider of choice for government agencies and businesses, especially in and around Kabul. Afghan Wireless provided the communications support for the Loya Jirga meetings that formed the interim Afghan administration, and opened Kabul’s first-ever public Internet cafe in 2002. The police and fire departments in Kabul have received free telephones for emergency service support.

Demand for private service has been much greater than anticipated, but TSI has consistently devoted more resources to accommodate demand, while simultaneously expanding service throughout the country. By December 2002, the service provided by the network was sophisticated enough that during a three-day holiday period, 300,000 calls, many of them international, were successfully connected. “When a mother thanks me for connecting her with her daughter or son,” says Bayat, “that makes it all worthwhile.”

Bayat emphasizes that this desire to communicate, both with other Afghans and with the outside world, will propel Afghanistan through its rebuilding and development. It was crucial that the ability to communicate be one of the first infrastructure problems addressed by the new government. This is “a moment signifying renewal as well as change,” says Bayat. “Underpinning all of [our] new-found freedoms is the freedom to communicate. The power of people talking with one another and sharing information … [will be] one of the fastest ways to help Afghanistan develop.”

Building on his success with the wireless network, Bayat will launch television and radio stations simultaneously in early August of this year. Ariana Television Network (ATN) will be broadcast by the most powerful television transmitter in the country, and, in a field of competitors that show primarily programs from abroad, ATN will provide more local content than any other Afghan television station. “The main difference is that we’ll try to get maximum local content and try to be as educational as possible,” says Bayat. “It will be like a PBS.”

The television station already employs more than 50 Afghans, who have created at least three months of programming ready to air. Live news will be broadcast several times a day in Dari and Pashtu, the two official languages, and documentary features on warlordism, poppy production, crime, and the upcoming parliamentary elections are being produced.

Bayat is also keen to develop cultural and educational programs for children traumatized by years of war and displacement. “One of the things we’ve lost during the last 25 years of war has been the cultural heritage of Afghanistan,” says Bayat. “We have been refugees, here and abroad. We need to reignite the interest in Afghanistan before the war, and bring back Afghan culture and traditions.”

Afghanistan is uniquely placed to become the hub of a “digital Silk Road,” according to Bayat. The network of trade routes known as the Silk Road, which crossed Afghanistan and linked the people and traditions of Asia and Europe, created the first global exchange of knowledge, goods, and culture. Data traffic is creating a digital trade path that passes once again through Afghanistan. The acute penetration of wireless technology in Afghanistan, and the reach of its media, will be an advantage in the region as communication systems are integrated. “Once you start with 21st-century technology [like wireless], there is a greater potential for becoming the hub of technology and communications for countries around you,” says Bayat. “That’s why we’re building a backbone system in Afghanistan, not just for us, but for the whole region.”

The larger goal behind these communications and media ventures is building democracy, Bayat insists. “I’m afraid of politics,” he chuckles, but “promoting democracy is the goal that I have. It means having free and independent radio and television. We are in the crossroads of Asia, but right now we need better communications, transportation and electricity. And I will do whatever possible to help.”  (Source: Worldpress.org by Carolyn O’Hara Contributing Editor)

Putting Words into Action:  Speeches and Essays from Leaders in the World of Education, Social Development, and Positive Change

Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Message on World AIDS Day

In the course of the past decade, the world has made considerable progress in the fight against AIDS. It has also made considerable promises. The time has come to keep them.  And I believe we can.

Today, we have about eight billion dollars available for AIDS efforts in developing countries annually -- compared to 300 million dollars a decade ago.

Today, the national AIDS response in some 40 countries is led by Heads of State or Government themselves, or their deputies.

Today, AIDS is a familiar item for discussion in the General Assembly and the Security Council.

We see new signs of progress in almost every region of the world.
We have real evidence that AIDS is a problem with a solution.

We have a clear plan of action to halt and reverse the spread of AIDS.

At the World Summit held at the United Nations in September 2005, leaders pledged to fully implement the Declaration of Commitment of HIV/AIDS adopted in 2001, by scaling up efforts for prevention, treatment, care and support so that every person, without exception, has access to these life-saving programmes. Next year, we will review progress so far in implementing the Declaration.

So this is a time to concentrate our minds.  It is a time to recognize that although our response so far has succeeded in some of the particulars, it has yet to match the epidemic in scale. It is a time to admit that if we are to reach the Millennium Development Goal of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of AIDS by 2015, then we must do far, far more.

That mission concerns every one of us.  For halting the spread of AIDS is not only a Millennium Development Goal in itself; it is a prerequisite for reaching most of the others.

Today, let us make clear this is a time to keep the promise. On this World AIDS Day, I ask all of you to join me in that mission.  (Source:  UNAIDS.org)

A Message from Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS on the Occasion of World AIDS Day

On this 18th World AIDS Day, the world faces a choice in the global response to AIDS. We can either continue to accept that global efforts will fail to keep pace with ever increasing numbers of HIV infections and AIDS related deaths, including more and more women and girls. Or we can recognize the exceptional global threat posed by AIDS and embrace an equally exceptional response.

The latest global AIDS figures show some signs of hope: Adult infection rates have decreased in a few countries, notably in Kenya, Zimbabwe and some Caribbean countries including Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Dominican Republic and Haiti, and that changes in behavior, such as increased use of condoms, delay of first sexual experience and fewer sexual partners - have played a key part in these declines. However, globally, the epidemic continues to grow: The number of people living with HIV in 2005 has reached its highest level ever, at an estimated 40.3 million people, nearly half of them women.

The lessons of nearly 25 years into the AIDS epidemic are clear. Investments made in HIV prevention break the cycle of new infections. Investments made in HIV treatment and care give people longer, better and more productive lives. By making these investments, each and every country can reverse the spread of AIDS.

The World Summit in New York last September, all UN Member States pledged to developing and implementing a package for HIV prevention, treatment and care with the aim of coming as close as possible to the goal of universal access to treatment by 2010 for all those who need it. Effective comprehensive prevention treatment and care programmes need to be scaled up on a massive scale so that everyone who needs them can benefit from them.

Yet, our efforts have to go even further if future generations are to live without AIDS. With a crisis as unprecedented as AIDS, we cannot afford to neglect any vital front. We must do whatever it takes to accelerate the pace of development of women-controlled prevention technologies, new generations of effective treatments, and a vaccine against HIV. And we must address the deeper-rooted factors that are driving the virus, including gender and income inequality.

The World AIDS Campaign has chosen "Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise" as its new theme, referring to the promises that we have all made to deliver the exceptional response demanded by AIDS. The commitment to resource and deliver effective prevention, treatment and care services for all who need them, is one we must all keep. There are no excuses.  (Source:  UNAIDS.org)

Keynote speech at the Ministerial Conference on Education in Central Asia Challenges for Education in Central Asia

5 April 5, 2004, Tashkent

Dr. Andrea Berg, Centre for OSCE Research, Hamburg

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is an honor for me to give a presentation on “Challenges for Education in Central Asia” and to share with you some views on this topic. This afternoon we will hear presentations on various aspects of education, including management reform, curriculum content and regional co-operation. Both basic and higher education attract a lot of attention from national governments as well as from donor organizations. But the number of students and would-be students by far exceeds the number of working places available. For this reason, I will focus in my presentation on an educational issue, which is neglected throughout Central Asia: vocational training and adult education.

Approximately one year ago, 180 representatives of the countries of Central Asia, the CIS and the European Union gathered here in Tashkent at the first regional conference on Education for All – Life Long Learning. The main aim of the conference was to discuss the progress of adult education programmes within the context of life-long learning in the countries of Central Asia. The participants adopted a “Call to Action” mainly focusing on the promotion of life-long learning, the improvement of learning opportunities through formal and nonformal education and the allocation of additional resources to support adult learning programs.

Why is adult education so important? Life-long learning includes the continuous education of adults after the end of formal education. It is directly connected with raising the skills of the workforce, with active participation in society and with a person’s ability to participate fully in political life. Adult education is one of the most challenging tasks currently facing the countries of Central Asia. The bulk of the population received their school-based education under completely different political, social and economic conditions. They were trained for a future that never appeared. Most of them have had very limited opportunities to modify their skills in line with the new demands. In addition, today’s children are usually taught what they need to pass exams, not what they need in real life.

Let us have a look at three current trends characterizing the situation of the adult population in Central Asia:

First, Unemployment and labor migration: The economic reforms and structural changes in all five countries have led to an increasing number of people with no regular employment.  They generally work as seasonal agricultural laborers or are engaged in labor migration.  Hundreds of thousands of workers migrate seasonally from Tajikistan to Russia, from Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan or from The Kyrgyz Republic to China to earn money. Both men and women gather at the bazaars in the morning to look for jobs as day-laborers. People working in the public sector are not able to cover their living expenses from their official salaries and often need a second job in the informal economy to make ends meet.

The existing education systems do not prepare school-leavers to make a lasting and useful contribution to the economy. There is a wide gap between the needs of the market and the skills taught at schools. As a consequence, young people often find it difficult to get work.  This lost generation represents a serious potential source of conflict. A recent ICG Report on Youth in Central Asia quotes the findings of a researcher who analyzed domestic armed conflict between 1950 and 2000 all over the world. He wrote: “…if young people are left with no alternative but unemployment and poverty, they are likely to join a rebellion as an alternative way of generating an income.”1

Second, Widening gender gap: While girls’ enrolment in basic and secondary education tends to decline as they get older, the opposite trend can be observed in adult learning. Women show a strong commitment to professional training while men appear to lack interest. Men seem to be rather blind to the connection between ongoing learning and better knowledge on the one hand, and the prospect of a better job and a higher income on the other. Interviews with representatives of local NGOs show some evidence that women adapt more easily to a changing social and economic environment while men are often more attached to traditional role models. For this reason, it is very important to raise awareness among the population that human capital increasingly determines individual and family incomes and that life-long learning is an important mechanism for reducing and preventing poverty.

But we should take into account that the concept of life-long learning collides with gender norms in Central Asia. First of all, men are the breadwinners of the family. Even young boys are already expected to contribute to the household’s income. Indeed, child labor is a survival strategy for many families. Higher dropout rates among boys show that education is considered less important than income-generating activities that do not necessarily require formal schooling. This trend continues when boys become older and set up their own families.  It is therefore important not only to focus on girls’ access to education but to pay proper attention to the male population, too.

Third, Increasing illiteracy: Another alarming trend is the increasing illiteracy of the adult population. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have both introduced a new script without offering sufficient courses to help adults to learn it. In addition, the younger generation has a poor knowledge of the Cyrillic script. Thus, they have a very limited ability to read newspapers, fill out official documents or access literature. Bilingual education is a crucial element in raising quality standards and thus in increasing access to global markets – at least in the region of Central Asia.

To summarize these three trends: We see a serious need to bring adult education in Central Asia in line with the needs of the market. A recent World Bank report on education in transition countries states that: “The implications of a market economy for education are radically different from those of a planned economy, but they are fairly easy to see.” What are these implications?

First of all it is important to mention that market economies need highly skilled workers at least as much as university graduates. If we take a look at the number of university graduates in all parts of Central Asia, it is evident that nobody is able to offer them employment prospects. One problem is that some professions are much more prestigious than others.  While enormous numbers of graduates in law, economics and accounting compete in an already saturated market, there is a lack of highly skilled and qualified farmers, medical personal, office workers, tradesmen, carpenters, plumbers and service personnel for hotels and restaurants. Walking through the bazaars and shops in Central Asia one finds far more imported goods than high-quality local products. Offering training for professions such as those I have mentioned could contribute significantly to the prospects of local entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Second, it is not enough just to establish professional colleges or vocational training courses.  Content matters. Specific skills are required for every type of employment, whether in the public or the private sector, or even in the field of migrant labor. Recently, the lack of communication between enterprises and professional colleges has been reflected in curricula focusing mainly on theoretical rather than applied knowledge. It is therefore possible to speak of a gap between knowledge and abilities. To raise educationalists’ awareness of what skills are required by businesses and the market, dialogue between entrepreneurs, consumers and vocational colleges should be strongly encouraged.

Third, ex-cathedra teaching dominates instead of interactive methodologies and practical training. This helps to reinforce the traditional respect for authority and the older generation but hinders youngsters from articulating their wants and needs. In a rapidly changing situation, it is particularly important that the focus of teaching and learning is shifted to solid and useful information, foundation skills such as problem-solving and interpretation, and on how to apply knowledge to unfamiliar problems and to act with greater individual initiative.  A broad knowledge base is vital if future workers are to be able to respond flexibly to change and to have the ability to learn in the future.

Fourth, because adult education was poorly developed during the Soviet time many teachers are not used to dealing with adult learners expressing opinions of their own. To cope with this problem, it is of the utmost importance to provide teacher training with a particular focus on interactive methodology. In addition, teachers’ motivation should be increased by raising their salaries to an appropriate level.

Fifth, the willingness of the population to invest in education depends to a high degree on the effect education has on job prospects. In Central Asia, it is usual to invest in employment – in other words, in buying a job – rather than in education. Indeed, when seeking a particular position, it is often more important to come from the right family, the right region or to know the right people than to have the right skills for the job. In addition, pay levels frequently bear no relationship to the level of skill and training required to perform a certain job. Real competition for apprenticeship places and for jobs could do a great deal to improve learners’ motivation and thus the quality of services and production.  But these are not the only factors that make vocational training a crucial element of life-long learning. Coming back to the connection between unemployment, poverty and violent conflicts, we should keep in mind the security dimension of vocational training and of education in general. Analyses from all over the world provide strong evidence that quality education is one of the key elements of long-lasting security building. Employed workers are less at risk of joining rebellions to improve their situation. Adequately trained people are able to find civil means to solve conflicts and to develop alternative strategies in a difficult situation. People who see that their prospects could improve through learning are more willing to invest time and money in the education of their children.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

For all these reasons I appeal to you, the participants of this conference, to pool your experience and your resources to strengthen vocational training throughout Central Asia and to encourage the younger generation to take an active part in the economic, social and political life of their countries. Education does not finish at the school gates. Life-long learning is an important tool for ensuring sustainable development and a secure future.

1 Henrik Urdal: The Devil in Demographics. The Effect of Youth Bulges on Domestic Armed Conflict, 1950-2000, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo.

Organization Profile:  This section highlights an organization or program that is making a difference in the fields of education or social development.  

BRAC

With a vision of "a just, enlightened, healthy and democratic Bangladesh free from hunger, poverty, environmental degradation and all forms of exploitation based on age, sex, religion and ethnicity," BRAC started as an almost entirely donor funded, small-scale relief and rehabilitation project to help the country overcome the devastation and trauma of the Liberation War. Today, BRAC has emerged as an independent, virtually self-financed paradigm in sustainable human development. It is the largest in the world employing 97,192 people, with the twin objectives of poverty alleviation and empowerment of the poor. Through experiential learning, BRAC today provides and protects livelihoods of around 100 million people in Bangladesh. Diagnosing poverty in human terms and recognizing its multidimensional nature, BRAC approaches poverty alleviation with a holistic approach. BRAC's outreach covers all 64 districts of the country and furthermore, has been called upon to assist a number of countries including Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

From the time of its modest inception in 1972, BRAC recognized women as the primary caregivers who would ensure the education of their children and the subsequent inter-generational sustainability of their families and households. Its comprehensive approach combines Microfinance under BRAC's Economic Development programme with Health, Education and other Social Development programmes, linking all the programmes strategically to counter poverty through livelihood generation and protection.

BRAC works with people whose lives are dominated by extreme poverty, illiteracy, disease and other handicaps. With multifaceted development interventions, BRAC strives to bring about positive changes in the quality of life of the poor people of Bangladesh.

BRAC firmly believes and is actively involved in promoting human rights, dignity and gender equity through poor people’s social, economic, political and human capacity building. Although the emphasis of BRAC’s work is at the individual level, sustaining the work of the organization depends on an environment that permits the poor to break out of the cycle of poverty and hopelessness. To this end, BRAC endeavors to bring about change at the level of national and global policy on poverty reduction and social progress. BRAC is committed to making its programmes socially, financially and environmentally sustainable, using new methods and improved technologies. As a part of its support to the programme participants and its financial sustainability, BRAC is also involved in various income generating enterprises.

Poverty reduction programmes undertaken so far have bypassed many of the poorest. In this context one of BRAC’s main focuses is the ultra poor. Given that development is a complex process requiring a strong dedication to learning, sharing of knowledge and being responsive to the needs of the poor, BRAC places a strong emphasis on their organizational development, simultaneously engaging itself in the process of capacity building on a national scale to accelerate societal emancipation.

The fulfillment of BRAC’s mission requires the contribution of competent professionals committed to the goals and values of BRAC. BRAC, therefore, fosters the development of the human potential of the members of the organization and those they serve.

In order to achieve its goal, wherever necessary, BRAC welcomes partnerships with the community, like-minded organizations, governmental institutions, the private sector and development partners both at home and abroad

For more information, visit the BRAC website at http://www.brac.net/.

Copyright Disclaimer:  All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners.  The information provided is for the purposes of study, research, criticism, and review, as permitted under copyright legislation.  No part of the content may be reproduced, reused, or redistributed for commercial use.