50th Anniversary of Commonwealth Education Ministers Conference in Kuala Lumpur: Shri Kapil Sibal to Lead Indian Delegation

This Conference marks the 50th Anniversary of the Commonwealth Education Ministers Conference. India is being seen as a nation of young people – with a working age population estimated at 672 million between the age group of 15-64 years. Shri Kapil Sibal is likely to emphasise on this major demographic dividend that could accrue with a skilled workforce capable of contributing both at the national and global level for economic growth.

The Theme of the Conference is “Education in Commonwealth: Towards and Beyond Global Goals and Targets”. The Conference will bring together Education Ministers, Senior Officials and delegates from the Commonwealth Member States. The Conference will serve as a platform for participation of delegates for Commonwealth Youth Forum, Commonwealth Teachers Forum, Commonwealth Stakeholders Forum and official agencies like Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) etc. Some of the important agenda items include Panel Presentation and Discussion on themes like:-

i. Successes & emerging challenges in the context of global recession.

ii. Gender beyond global goals and targets: A persistent challenge.

iii. Education for respect and understanding: Inclusion & Equity.

iv. Challenges of post primary provision.

v. Commonwealth Work Programme & Commonwealth Scholarship.

An Award Ceremony on Good Practices in Education is being organized on this occasion. India’s Brihanmumbai Shikshak Saba (Mumabi Municipal Teacher’s Association) is one of the nine finalists who have been shortlisted from a total of 49 submissions for the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards, 2009.

The CCEM is held every three years and the previous Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers was held at Cape Town, South Africa in 2006. The members of the Indian delegation are Smt. Anshu Vaish, Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy and senior officials Shri N.K. Sinha & Shri Amit Khare of the Ministry. The Union Minister for HRD, Shri Kapil Sibal is likely to visit institutions of Higher Education set up by Indian entrepreneurs.

The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) & Ed.CIL (India) Ltd. along with the Indian High Commission are organizing “India Education Fair 2009 from 20-21 June, 2009 at Kuala Lumpur on this occasion.