Commonwealth Education Ministers from Africa and Europe to Meet

Sierra Leone's President Dr Ahmad Tejan Kabbah will open the meeting

Education Ministers from 20 Commonwealth African and European countries will meet in Freetown, Sierra Leone, from 14 to 16 November 2005 to discuss their countries' progress in the Commonwealth's Six Action Areas, the migration of teachers from their countries, and education trends and challenges.

The Six Action Areas drawn up at the 15th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (15CCEM) in October 2003 are: achieving universal completion of primary education; eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education; improving quality in education; using distance learning to overcome barriers; supporting education in difficult circumstances; and mitigating the effects of HIV/AIDS on education systems.

Progress in these areas will be outlined in reports on the work of the Commonwealth Secretariat's Education Section and from the Commonwealth of Learning since 15CCEM.

The ministers will also discuss progress made on implementing the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol, aimed at protecting the most vulnerable states from unmanaged migration of teachers; and education trends and challenges in their countries that have emerged since the 2003 meeting. They will additionally receive feedback on the meetings held for the other Commonwealth regions in Fiji Islands (in April 2005 for the Asia-Pacific region) and The Bahamas (in July this year for the Caribbean and Canada).

The Sierra Leone meeting will also be attended by neighbouring non-Commonwealth Ministers of Education from Liberia and Equatorial Guinea, as well as by key international, regional and civil society agencies, including UNICEF, the World Bank, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, the Commonwealth Consortium for Education, and ActionAid.

Sierra Leone's President Dr Ahmad Tejan Kabbah will open the meeting, which is a mid-term review. It will be chaired by Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Winston Cox.

Ann Keeling, Director of the Secretariat's Social Transformation Programmes Division, described the mid-term review as a "landmark meeting, signalling to the world that Sierra Leone is very much open for business. The Secretariat has been a keen supporter of Sierra Leone on its journey back from conflict to peace and normalcy, and this meeting will highlight the remarkable progress made in reconstructing education. Delegates will undertake field visits to educational institutions to view first-hand this reconstruction effort."

The outcomes of the three regional review meetings will be taken into account in preparations for the 16CCEM to be held in South Africa next year. In Freetown, South Africa's Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, will brief delegates on plans for the 16CCEM.

CNIS - Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 260, 9 November 2005

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