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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth Education Ministers Meet on Challenges of Education and Technology for 21st Century

14 July 1997

The importance of technology in promoting improvements in education for the new millennium will be the main item on the agenda at the thirteenth conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers to be held in Gaborone, Botswana, from 28 July-1 August 1997. About 250 delegates, including the association's newest members, Cameroon and Mozambique, are expected to attend. The conference will be opened by the President of Botswana, Sir Ketumile Masire. 

The theme of the conference, 'Education and Technology -  the Challenges for the 21st Century', reflects Commonwealth-wide concern over the inequality in access to technology for education and development which has widened the gap between developed and developing countries.  Ministers will also discuss how to prepare citizens, through education and training, for a future that will be dominated by modern information and communication technologies.

Another focus for discussion will be how to harness available technologies to meet education needs. Ministers will consider what needs to be done to enable all countries to acquire the infrastructure for available technologies, how to use technologies to safeguard and enrich nations' cultures, and how to redress imbalances in access to quality education.

For the first time, a parallel convention and exhibition will be held alongside the Ministers' conference. The British Council, in partnership with IDP Education Australia, is organising this event which is entitled Education and Technology in the Commonwealth: Making the Transition. Exhibitors will include hardware manufacturers, service providers, governments, project agencies, non-governmental organisations and funding agencies. Delegates from the conference are expected to visit the exhibition. The convention will include a panel interaction at which practical questions on how countries can make technology work for their education systems will be discussed.

 

97/32            14 July 1997

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