DG/96/l Original: French UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION Address by Mr Federico Mayor Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at the opening of the Etats Généraux de l Education in Zaire Kinshasa, Zaire, 20 January 1996
What a pleasure it is to be here! How moving to see all the social actors involved in education assembled here, transcending differences of opinion, conviction and belief. What a pleasure to see all these pupils from different schools! They represent the youth of Zaire, of Africa, of the whole world. As I stand before them and their teachers I should like to reaffirm the United Nations promise to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. We will do everything we can to eradicate violence and assist in the transition from a culture of war, oppression and suffering to a culture of peace, dialogue and happiness. Prime Minister, Minister of Primary, Secondary and Vocational Education, Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the Etats Généraux, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Members of the Etats Généraux de l Education, Representatives of diplomatic missions and aid agencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Allow me to express my gratitude to His Excellency Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko, President of the Republic of Zaire, and His Excellency Mr Kengo wa Dondo, Prime Minister of the Government of Transition, for inviting UNESCO to assist in the preparation, running and follow-up of the Etats Généraux de l Education. I am very touched that not only the authorities, but everyone in Zaire remembers the support our Organization gave them after independence. At the time, thanks to the support of the United Nations and in agreement with the authorities of the newly created Congo, UNESCO played a vital role in restoring an education system that had been seriously disrupted. A third of a century later, at its Sovereign National Conference, Zaire expressed the desire to begin a process of democratic change, resolutely committed itself to a movement of social transformation and asked UNESCO to help redefine its human resources development policy and reform its education and training system. History does not repeat itself - it changes and is renewed each day. In 1960 the Congo was suffering from a lack of trained nationals. In 1996 it is the civil society of Zaire that, aware of the deterioration of the education system and the risk this situation represents for future generations, has decided to take its destiny in hand. Africans, Zairians, you have the talent, the wisdom and the enthusiasm to construct your own future. By taking charge of your own destiny in this way you will be able to effect the profound transformations required, which will benefit everyone. Yes, with all its range of resources, and above all its human resources, Africa is now, like it or not, more a solution than a problem for world security and stability. Yes, this country now has sufficient political leaders, public officials, intellectuals and other social actors to successfully carry out the transition to a new, more just, more humane, more efficient and more democratic Republic.
DG/96/l - page 2 UNESCO s role in this process is not merely to provide technical advice on the reform of the education system. Its function, which corresponds to the very essence of the mission assigned to it by its Constitution, is to help you to rebuild peace amongst yourselves, among all the parties represented here, all the interest groups, all the different approaches, all the very diverse peoples who make up your great country. Our role is to help you discuss the situation without bitterness or passion, and redefine together the future you want to bequeath to future generations, the future to which they have a right. Education, science, culture and communication are only tools for building peace in the minds of men, and this is UNESCO s fundamental mission, in Zaire as elsewhere. UNESCO s Office in Kinshasa and its Regional Office in Dakar, the best specialists at Headquarters and I myself have spent the last one and a half years preparing for the Etats Généraux, doing all we could to enable all the partners in the Zairian education system to sit down at the same table and reach an agreement on the best means of saving, reforming and reinventing the education system. The first step was for partners as varied as the State, churches, unions, employers, local authorities, students and the representatives of civil society to agree to come together and speak to each other. The next step was for them to set aside their most immediate grievances and agree to concentrate on essentials, that is, their shared future. In conclusion, they were together to outline solutions that would be acceptable to everyone. That day has at last come. The most senior representatives of all the different movements and sensibilities in Zaire are assembled in this room and have agreed to devote a whole week to constructive dialogue to decide on the future of the education system and how it can be brought about. The Preparatory Committee of the Etats Généraux has drawn up proposals likely to meet with the agreement of all participants. The themes chosen for the meeting cover the essential questions that need to be dealt with. I congratulate Professor Sekimonyo, Minister of Primary, Secondary and Vocational Education and Chairman of the Preparatory Committee, on his successful accomplishment of this delicate task. Having followed the preparatory work closely, I can assure you that the texts submitted to you identify the most important features of any comprehensive review of the education system: human development and personal, social and economic well-being, the involvement of young people in social and economic life and change, the participation of all interested sectors in defining the system s goals, social justice, without which there can be no sustainable development, and the identification of population groups that deserve special attention - I am particularly thinking of Zairian women, who did so much to ensure the country s survival and development when its institutions were no longer able to confront the task. Proof that the Preparatory Committee adopted a strategic approach to its work is found in the themes assigned to the Technical Commissions, which run through the whole system: Education for Human Development; Education and Employment; and The University, the World of Work and Development. The titles of the three studies prepared by groups of Zairian consultants to help the Preparatory Committee - Non-traditional initiatives in basic education, Which qualifications are most in demand? and Modernization of management models in higher education - also show that development issues have been given precedence over technical questions. These subjects are raised at all major United Nations conferences, and they were the concerns voiced repeatedly by Heads of State at Audience Africa, held at Headquarters in February 1995, which you, Prime Minister, honoured with your presence.
DG/96/l - page 3 Since the Sovereign National Conference everyone has agreed that the education sector has been severely affected by the socio-economic crisis in Zaire. Its disorganization, imbalances and malfunctioning prevent it from responding to society s education and training needs. The members of the Preparatory Committee proposed a series of measures, and their proposals were added to by representatives of all social and cultural groups during consultations in the 11 regions of the country and with a number of essential partners such as the unions and students. At the request of the Preparatory Committee, UNESCO then reviewed the proposals and made comments based on its experience in many countries. I should like, if you will allow me, to remind you of some of the points we made. 1. While at national level priority must be given to the education sector the priority within this sector must be basic education. This is a commitment Zaire made at the Jomtien Conference and repeated at the Kinshasa Round Table in 1991. The first step is for primary schooling to start expanding more rapidly than demographic growth. However, this expansion of schooling requires local communities to take greater responsibility for the creation, goals, development and control of their own schools. 2. Learning about ethics and values, human rights, social and family life and practical work is an essential part of the individual s and citizen s training. It is therefore indispensable to include education in these areas in primary-school syllabuses. 3. Primary education is not the only component of basic education. Poverty and the physical and moral wretchedness of a large part of the population of Zaire require that immediate attention be given to the most impoverished groups through non-formal education and training. 4. At secondary level, improving the quality of general education is an essential pre-condition for the improvement of the modem sector of the country s human resources. 5. The appropriateness and forward planning of vocational training with regard to employment possibilities is a basic principle that must guide technical and vocational training activities. This principle and the high cost of such training have important implications which require that the expansion of academic types of education be controlled. The restrictions this entails should be compensated for by giving more support to less formal training initiatives for craftsmen in the traditional sector - apprenticeship, functional literacy programmes, technical information, raising the level of general education, and management training. These approaches are often as helpful as genuine vocational training for these groups. 6. The neglect of the educational needs of a large part of the population in recent decades, and the desire to enable them to participate fully in the country s development once more, mean that adults must also have access to more flexible types of education and training. Lifelong education in all its forms must reinforce classic training methods. In future there must no longer be a frontier between schools and other types of training. In this spirit UNESCO has just launched a major lifelong education development programme called Learning Without Frontiers.
DG/96/l - page 4 7. The Commissions courageously acknowledge the need to control access to higher education, as well as promotion from one level to the other. This is an essential precondition for improving the quality of the courses offered and diversifying them according to the needs of each region. At the highest levels of higher education, establishing regional and international networks is one of the most effective ways of raising standards. 8. Given the state of degradation of the Zairian education system, reform will require considerable resources. The State will certainly have to make a significant contribution as soon as its finances have been put to rights. But it is clear to everyone that public resources, whether from the State or its external partners, will be insufficient to finance both basic education for all and the development of good quality secondary, technical and higher education. This is why contributions by other partners (parents associations, business firms, local communities, etc.) to the financing of education will be essential - as is normal in a democratic system. 9. All the analyses carried out in recent years show that the Zairian education system needs to be transformed, rather than reformed or consolidated. The principle is perfectly succinctly expressed in the reports of the Technical Commissions: managing the system on a basis of partnership. This principle corresponds to the decision of the Sovereign National Conference which requires democratization of political structures in order to involve local communities in the design, implementation and evaluation of development projects. 10. Acceptance of decentralized management based on partnership, and its corollary, the principle of State subsidiarity, will have to be reflected in thoroughgoing institutional changes in which every structure and procedure proposed must receive the approval of all concerned, the sole criterion being how best to serve the interests of pupil and school. These points are made in different forms in the texts submitted for your analysis and amendment. At first sight, it seems that everyone should be able to adopt them, as they do not seem at all controversial. In fact, despite their apparent straightforwardness, they have profound implications which will give rise to detailed discussion. Your sincere, total commitment to these principles, particularly partnership in the management of the education system, is an essential pre-condition for the resumption of development in your country. This meeting is only the first step. Once the Etats Généraux have amended and adopted the Preparatory Committee s proposals, the various partners will have to draw up a plan for implementing the reform and financially realistic strategic programmes for the renewal of the system, and start to define how their co-operation is going to be organized at operational level. The importance of the role of teachers, fundamental partners because of their strategic position at the point where pupil, family and educational structures meet, cannot be too strongly emphasized in this connection. The importance of women s role in this process, as in the life of every society, cannot be over-emphasized either. Women are the first educators and must be involved in any reconstruction of the education system seeking to mobilize and enhance the country s human resources in the long term.
DG/96/l - page 5 If the meeting beginning today achieves the objectives it has set itself, I will be immensely happy and do all I can to persuade our bilateral and international partners to take an interest in Zaire and support your joint effort. You will have made a vital contribution to the construction of peace in Zaire, to the country s development, to the pleasure of sharing, to the pleasure of living.