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| Education
for All |
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Listen
here |
Just how far in the future, will we finally realise
the noble ideal of education for all? Who will be
the future winners and losers in education and how
can we find ways of narrowing the gap that exist?
If you're a girl, for example, you generally stand
even less chance of getting to school. Geeta Ghandi
Kingdon, of the Institute of Economics and Statistics
at Oxford University, says that poor families often
choose to educate boys first.
However, there are encouraging signs of change.
In a Calcutta slum, the Gwavagan child welfare centre
has brought new hope to first generation learners.
It has won the support of local parents and teaches
girls who come from homes where no one can read
or write.
What of those who missed out on education first
time round? It's not just children who need access
if they are to become winners. Adult education,
especially in the rural developing world, is vital.
Celita Eccher is the co-ordinator of the Latin American
Women's Network of Popular Education. She believes
that education cuts to the heart of the problems
of the poor. Another serious educational challenge
to societies across the world in the future is how
to help the socially excluded. Even in Holloway
prison in the UK, education is helping to turn losers
into winners. |
| Listen
to Ray Harris,
education specialist talk about 'Education for
All' in the 21st Century |
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| Skills
for the Future |
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Listen
here |
Education
must prepare the children of today for a very different
future. However, so many education systems still look
to the past.
Teaching for the future, not about the future, is the
key. Futurist Sohail Inayatullah believes that things
are changing so fast in education that the old idea of
an agreed canon of knowledge to be transferred down the
generations is outdated.
Some education futurists believe that it's time to give
education back to the children. At a recent conference
in Sheffield in the United Kingdom, children from Ethiopia,
Mexico and Thailand proved that they were more than capable
of teaching children from the west about sexual health
issues.
It is vital for children in the developing world to have
cultural images that are relevant to them. A new series
of graduated readers written for African children by African
writers is doing just that- and children all over the
continent have been snapping them up. The developing world
is seeking new ways to educate its people and share knowledge.
In Rwanda, radio is being used to respond to the needs
of a country recovering from genocide. It is giving Rwandans
an alternative vision of the future. For example, Urunana
is a radio drama which is targeted at women and has a
strong educational message.
Among the issues that it seeks to address are health,
relationships and the effects of the civil war. Dr Geoffrey
Mchwala, a Kenyan botanist, explains how scholars from
the developing world are meeting in the field and exchanging
ideas in ways that would have been unthinkable even ten
years ago. |
| Listen
to Richard Slaughter,
education futurist talk about 'Skills for the future' |
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| Breaking
Down the Barriers |
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Listen
here |
There
are still many barriers to the long established aim of
giving education to all. For instance, the Internet has
been seen as the ultimate solution to spreading knowledge
around the world. Children who are on the internet can
travel around the planet without moving from their desks.
In a project called the Global Schoolhouse, real students
travel the planet and children track them on the internet.
They can interact, ask questions and email across the
world. However, the internet's impact will be limited
if you consider that half the world's children are more
than an eight hour walk from the nearest phone?
Consequently, many developing countries have introduced
a number of practical strategies for educating people
in rural regions. In Burma, Dr Khin Ni Ni Thien applies
a theory called Hydroinformatics - using water as a metaphor
for the flow of knowledge. They are using backpack teachers
to educate Burmese villagers about water hygiene. The
use of new methods doesn't mean that traditional cultures
will be lost. Joseph Shabalala, from the South African
group Ladysmith Black Mambazo overcame his fear of technology
to realise his dream of the first South African academy
of traditional music. Technology used to remember the
past as well as prepare society for the future. |
| Listen
to Sohail Inayutullah,
political scientist talk about 'breaking the barriers' |
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| The
Class of 2010 |
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Listen
here |
As we try to gaze into the future, what will the classroom
of the future look like? Don Tapscott, an expert on how
the internet is going to change our lives, believes the
classroom will neither be a class nor a room. It will
be a virtual learning centre where we can learn at our
own speed.
He has already been to the future and likes it. He has
walked round a virtual French cathedral. The real one
was destroyed by fire several hundred years ago. Dr Lalita
Rajasingham believes that the parameters of education
are changing. In the future university students will be
able to take classes, right across the world, without
moving from their computers. One surfer of the educational
web is Shirley, who sits in her virtual classroom with
thousands of other students. She can talk and interact
with them and even see them but only from the waist up.
It seems we will not need legs in the virtual classroom!
However, for most children in the developing world, the
end of classrooms is irrelevant. For them, just learning
to read and write is the only thing that matters. |
| Listen
to Kato Hidetoshi,
Communications specialist talk about 'The Class of
2010' |
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| The
Future of English |
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Listen
here |
A quarter of the world's population now speaks English.
If you want to sell your products, or yourself, you have
no choice but to do it in English. Politicians and business
people must speak English if they want to make their mark
on the world's stage. Writers of minority languages can
no longer hope to sell their books unless they write in
English.
As English is spoken all over the world, it means that
no individual country can really exercise a controlling
influence over it. In the past, it was the mother tongue
speakers who controlled the future of the language. From
now on, indeed for the last few decades, the mother tongue
speakers are in a significant minority.
This means that the character of the language could well
shift with new words, new rhythms, and new pronunciations.
It isn't going to be British and American English anymore
- that's history. All over the world education authorities
are struggling to find the resources to meet the demand
for English.
However, it is open to question whether they are putting
all their eggs in one basket? What about the language
rivals to English. The hundreds of millions who speak
Spanish and Chinese and the economic power of Japan must
make Japanese, a strong rival. The future of English language
is intimately bound up with the electronic revolution.
Satellite television and the Internet have helped accelerate
the spread of English, but will that always be the case?
In fact, the Internet is now seen as the saviour of minority
languages. Indeed, with the continuing improvements in
electronic translation, it is open to question that we
will even need a global language? |
| Listen
to Prince
Hassan of Jordan talk about 'Partnerships in Education' |
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