Question : World Edcation Forum

(a) Whether India has participated in the World Education Forum recently organized by UNESCO;
(b) If so, the details of the agenda discussed during the said conference;
(c) The details of issues raised by representatives of the various countries during the said conference and the issues on which there has been a consensus; and
(d) Whether the Indian delegation has discussed issues with various leaders on the sidelines of the said conference, if so the details in this regard nad the outcome of such discussions?

MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI

(a) Yes, Madam

(b) The agenda for the World Education Forum (WEF) 2015 at Incheon, South Korea was to draw up the draft Framework for Action for Education Goal 2030, which would be finally put up for approval of the UNESCO General Conference in November 2015


(c) India, though its Minister for Human Resource Development, played a key role in including two very critical elements in the Incheon declaration for further implementation of the Education 2030 goals. First, India played a leading role in ensuring that the Incheon Declaration and the Framework For Action emerging from it includes flexibilities for UNESCO member states. India won resounding support from majority of the countries present and this was duly adopted by the WEF. This means that the member states can have a strategy based on their national priorities, resources, capacities and challenges to attain the global benchmarks of Education 2030 in an incremental manner. The Framework of Action thus, respects the autonomy of member states to plan for and progressively develop annual, intermediate and accelerated targets for meeting the global benchmarks.

India’s leadership and endorsement of the funding arrangement for the 2030 education goals through a commitment from the developed countries to contribute additional resources (0.7% of GNP) as development assistance to developing countries, especially the least developed countries won wide support and acceptance.

(d) The Indian delegation held several key meetings on the sidelines of the conference in support of the effort to build consensus on the Education 2030 target setting, implementation arrangements and monitoring systems. The Indian delegation held successful meetings of the E-9 group of the most populous countries, the SAARC group of South Asian countries and the countries in the BRICS group.

With a view to jumpstart India’s commitment and resolve to the new global education agenda, the Minister for Human Resource Development also held bilateral meetings with carefully selected countries with proven success in improving quality in education and learning outcomes, ranging from Japan, Norway, Finland, Brazil etc. for improved science and technology learning, research, teacher education, learning assessment systems and ICT for quality education.

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