Continent Ministers to Discuss Education
BuaNews (Tshwane)
NEWS
5 August 2007
Posted to the web 6 August 2007
By Themba Gadebe
Johannesburg
Education in Africa will come under the spotlight as education ministers from African Union countries meet for a five-day conference this week.
Issues relating to the Second Decade of Education for Africa will be discussed at the Third Ordinary Session of the Conference of the Ministers of Education, which will be opened on Monday.
This initiative was launched by the African Union in 2006 and is aimed at moving the continent closer to attaining the international target of primary education for all by 2015.
The meeting will also be an opportunity for the various ministers to discuss the follow up mechanisms and strategic partnerships for the implementation of the plan of action for the Second Decade of Education for Africa.
The establishment of an African Education Fund and strategies for technical and vocation education and training, teacher education and higher education will form part of the key discussions.
The Second Decade of Education for Africa’s Framework for Action includes improving educational quality and learning achievement; teacher education and professional development.
It also seeks to expand higher education with the development of regional and continental qualification frameworks to facilitate the mobility of students and staff; gender equality in primary and secondary education and harnessing the forces of education for regional integration.
Over 200 delegates, comprising Ministers of Education of the African Union, international organisations and education experts from across the globe are expected to attend the conference.
The Angolan delegation led by the Secretary of State for Higher Education, Adão do Nascimento, left Luanda on Saturday 4 August for Johannesburg, to represent Angola during the conference.
Before his departure, the Secretary of State told the press that they will mainly discuss the “strategy of partnership for the implementation of the action plan of Africa’s second decade of education”.
“Under this theme, the participants intend to work on the development of partnership in order to enhance the study of sciences and technologies focused on training of teachers through the production and distribution of equipments prepared for this purpose”, said the official.
The Angolan delegation is made up of experts of the Education Ministry and the Secretariat of State for Higher Education.
