June 18, 2009 23:15 PM

Focus On Four Key Points At C'wealth Education Conference

KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Bernama) -- Four key points discussed and focused on at the 17th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) which ended here Thursday will be the enabler to move forward towards achieving the conference goals, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the conference at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here, Khaled said the first focus was educational policies, provisions and services in the rapidly changing context of today.

The second was on education as an important inter-dependent continuum from early childhood through primary, secondary, post secondary and beyond to life-long learning.

The third focus was the necessity for the creation and preservation of quality in education and the fourth on the sharing of important lessons and practices.

"The challenges before us are great but we can feel and sense from this KL meeting that our resolve to overcome them is even greater," said Khaled.

About 1,200 delegates from 43 Commonwealth countries attended the four-day conference. The 18th CCEM will be held in Bahamas in 2012.

In his speech, Khaled also said that the 17th CCEM also mandated the need to look into the integration of new tools in education.

"Concerned both about widening access and enhancing equity, the ministers and various stakeholders have emphasised the need to look into strategies which will enable the use of technology to bridge the glaring gaps in educational provision, he said.

Later, at a separate event, Khaled witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Binary University College and the University of Zambia.

The MoU has two objectives -- to help produce future ICT leaders in Zambia and to help the African university in the setting up of a top business school for the region.



-- BERNAMA

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