Speech Given at Boao Consultative Meeting on Education Cooperation for Asia

Shyam Kant Silwal

Professor & Special Representative of Kirti Nidhi Bista, Former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Nepal

教育是每个社会实现全面发展最重要因素。高质量的教育能够使一个人得到全面发展。教育是全面释放个人潜能的媒介。世界上没有解决温饱的人口中有三分之二生活在亚太地区。自近代起，科技、经济和工业的发展一直在人类社会中受到最多的重视。在这样一个知识和信息社会，尼泊尔同样需要足够科技人才推动国家的进步。教育是每个人的权利，国家应为每个人提供优质的教育，并赋予所有受教育的人平等的权利。教育有助于发展人与人之间的关系、友谊、合作、团结，有助于促进国家间相互了解，有助于根据国内国际形势制定适宜的政策。

Summary:

It is a great honour to have been given this opportunity to participate and deliver my deliberation at the 2^nd Annual Conference of the Education Forum for Asia. I feel deeply obliged and would like to express my thanks to the Organizers of the Conference for inviting me to attend the august conference as a speaker, here, in the beautiful capital city Beijing of People’s Republic of China. Let me take this pleasure to recall that the leaders of China and the Kingdom of Nepal had exchanged friendly visits which led to the signing the Sino-Nepal set a new example for adherence to the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence and boundary sprint as well as the development of solidarity and friendship among the Asian countries. H.E Ambassador to Nepal Sun Heping on the 56^th National Day of the People’s Republic of China (1^st October, 2005) has also highlighted on the Golden Jubilee of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Nepal as well as the economic progress made by China since 1978. I readily came to understand that Education Forum for Asia has been established as a platform to address issues facing the development of education in Asia and to highlight and support innovation approaches to educational development goals, policy making regarding education and international cooperation in education. I would like to express and wish a grand success of the 2^nd Annual Conference held in Beijing from 13-16 October, 2005. I would like to extend deep gratitude and indebtedness to Rt. Honourable Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Nepal Kirti Nidhi Bista for his contribution between the more advanced and less advanced counties in term of economic, cultural and educational developments for attaining the ultimate goals, Asian integration in his address at the previous Conference held in Beijing.

(1). Education is the most single factor achieving overall development of every society. The best education allows a person to develops entirely as his/her inherent nature prompts. Education is the medium that releases human potential and helps a person to come to light form darkness. The world is incomparably richer than ever before but still we live in the world of extreme poverty that grips more than one billion world’s people, widespread hunger, gender inequality, lack of education, health, clean water, wide-disparity. Problems relating to extra-ordinary deprivation, staggering inequality, poverty, hunger, mal-nutrition are still existent in our region of the world viz. Asia. Various studies, reports exhibit that the two-thirds of hungry people live in development countries in the Asia and Pacific region alone. Education system must be made scientific, constructive and useful to address and solve the aforesaid problems. We witnessed that advanced industrial countries changed their higher education system from elite-based system to the mass-based system in the 1960s while the developing countries are still struggling to promote mass-based education system.

(2). Since the dawn of modern era development of science and technology, economic and industrial growth have been given prime importance and undertaken in human society. The world now appears to be in the midst of knowledge and information explosion with information and communication technology development. In this age of knowledge and information development countries have started paying attention to the inadequacies of their superior educational system. People with adequate scientific and technical education are needed in Nepal as well to carry the country forward.

(3). Education is the right of every person. The most fundamental problem is access to education as the right of people to certain level. Because of rapid deterioration of quality of education in pubic/community schools system private schools gradually going to be the substitute, this is where the problem has started Private school system caters to the needs of those parents who are willing to pay more money or exorbitant school fee for better quality education but all parents are unable to afford the expensive fee in private educational institutions and their children face deprivation of certain quality education. Every body is required to have access to education to certain level. At least, secondary level is required. A national system of education consists of the school system of higher education and other is the poly-technical system. Literacy rate based on the record of 2001 is 53.7 percent (male literacy 65.1 percent and female literacy rate is 42.5 percent). In Nepal illiteracy rate is high and unemployment rates are on the rise.

(4). Political realm of education furnishes equal opportunities to all in education with a aim of contributing to the development of human relationship, friendship, cooperation, unity, understanding potential system of political situation of the country, international understanding, helping to adopt suitable of political system. Democratization of education system has taken the firm root in the country. Demand for education can be created by welfare system of governance. In our educational world politicization had become unchecked, political ideologies are becoming instruments of partisan, political actions rather than matters of free and legitimate discussion. Good citizens with required knowledge are to be prepared to determine and adopt suitable political system for their welfare which are said to be objectives of education rather than good congressmen or good communists or good royalists.

(5). Sanctity of human being, happiness of people, peace and security in a human society are urgently demanded and required in the present era. Mind must be free from fear and knowledge must be free but terrorism has left no place untouched. In the world there is the existence of organized crime groups and their criminal networks have become more sophisticated in their operations and capabilities. Now, the need has been seriously felt to inculcate values, morality, rights, justice, fraternity, peaceful existence, cooperation, development of creativity, productivity and originality, releasing of inherent potentialities and equally negative and devastation impact of terrorist activities.

  I world like to extend sincere thanks to the People’s Republic of China including all the countries of Asia for providing cooperation and needed support to Nepal in the field of education.

  Thank you all distinguished guest, participants and organizers.