PARIS: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday called on the partners in the United Nations System and Group of 20 (G20) to include in their agenda reports on action to be taken in achieving education for all (EFA) goals by 2015.
EDUCATION TIES: Muhyiddin shakes hands with France’s Education Minister Luc Chatel (left) during his visit to the French education office. — Bernama photo
Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said there must be a sense of urgency to reach the unreached and often marginalised groups, especially with only five years to 2015 and the current financial crisis.
“By getting this item inscribed in future meetings of the chief executives of the UN System, it is clear that the coordination and financial assistance of UN organisations as a whole would be a step in the right direction,” he said at the 184th Unesco Executive board meeting during at the Unesco headquarters here.
Since the adoption of the EFA and Millenium Development Goals in 2000, some countries had demonstrated great achievements in universal primary education while some, especially those from the Sub-Sahara, were far from achieving the targets, he said.
Muhyiddin was pleased to note that Unesco director-general Irina Bokova, with whom he had a meeting earlier, had enlisted the active support of UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon recently.
Similarly, he said, the onus was on member states to collectively ensure the attainment of the EFA goals.
Muhyiddin also announced that the Malaysian government had allocated US$5million in launching grant and US$1million annually for the Unesco-Malaysia Cooperative Trust Fund.
The fund will be utilised to organise capacity-building courses, including post-degree teaching courses in Mathematics, Science and English, leadership training for school head teachers and other courses under the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP), for participants from the Least Developed Countries, Small Island States and Africa.
He said Malaysia would also offer short-term courses on science, technology and innovation in teaching and learning as well as in policy development under the auspices of the International Science, Technology and Innovation Centre (ISTIC).
“As a testimony of our commitment to this noble effort, it is with pleasure that I invite Bokova to Kuala Lumpur to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on this cooperation when we launch our first programme under this initiative in June,” he said.
The Malaysia-Unesco Cooperation Programme is a follow-up on the commitment made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during his inaugural address to the 35th General Conference here in October last year.
Muhyiddin said Malaysia fully supported Unesco’s efforts in developing a policy framework to address the challenges of cultural diversity to promote intercultural dialogue for sustainability and peace.
Concurring with Bokova that sports was a fine example of unity in diversity, he said Malaysians had seen the potential of sports as a catalyst of unity.
“As a minister of education, I personally oversee the efforts to bring back the glory of sports in schools as a means to promote greater interactions among children of different racial and cultural origins,” he said.
Apart from Bokova, present at today’s session were Unesco chairman of the executive board Eleonora Mitrofanova and president of the General Conference Davidson L Hepburn. — Bernama