Civil G8 2006

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"Education". Recommendations of the Forum on the meeting of the heads of G8 countries in St. Petersburg in July 2006. March, 9-10


Preamble

We, the participants of the Civil G8 Project, representing NGOs, taking into account that:

• The human is the basis of the planet security in era of globalization and modern challenges, and the multiform basic and professional education is the key for the development;

• The right of a human for the development is ensured by the educational space in general, the activities of educational institutions regardless of its propriety form and, most important, by the quality of the services, taking into consideration the individual features and educational needs of every person;

• To create “the world of equal possibilities” on the basis of general education and integration, it is necessary to provide the widening and multiform structure of education, as well as the re-orientation of its management
Being based on the G8 leaders Gleneagles statement, in which they supported the general, free, full and quality education for all children by 2015, on the principles of the UNESCO declaration adopted in Salamank, on the programs “Education for All”, “Adult Education”, “UN Decade of education for the sustainable development”, we consider it actual:

• To determine the priorities within the sphere of education taking into account that every person regardless of his/her social, ethnic, religious, gender status, timely or permanent invalidity has the right for the full quality education.

• To direct the resources of our states to the modernization and the development of education through the development and further support of inclusive education for all at the interests of the sustainable development of the mankind within the period of globalization, the promotion of civil education and civil participation in its management.
Taking into consideration, that the education is the main resource of the stable development, we propose:

• To use the term “Education as the knowledge transfer” not only for the obligatory basic education for all, but also for the independent knowledge, getting life skills and ethic principles, which are necessary for social adaptation, mastering the global and local culture, professional abilities and creative self-actualization

• To provide the additional access to the educational resources, widening the spectrum of the free-access materials (through Internet, particularly), to support informational portals, websites, new search systems, online libraries, the translation to the national languages, using informational resources of the non-governmental sector.

• To create the international system of the professional civil expertise, educational initiatives in the above-mentioned priority spheres, as well as the regional centers of scientific and technical information for education perfection in era of globalization with the participation of the non-commercial sector and NGOs.

To recognize and support such widespread practices as:

• The regulation and support of the scholars and teachers’ mobility through the stimulating them foe getting new knowledge, which are necessary within the development of the global labor market, under the guarantee of respecting the universal human rights, especially, children rights;

• To form the responsible approach to the environment, tolerance, mutual respect of the culture and traditions of different peoples, the transfer to the stable models of the production and consumption for the sustainable development;

• To provide the free search and access to information for self-education, aimed at the personal success and the self-actualization;

Starting from the above-mentioned, we are stating proposals within the following directions:

The citizens participation in education management and development

In order to improve the quality of education under conditions of intensive development of new knowledge, social reforms, and efforts toward socio-cultural education, the participants propose the following:

States must ensure real participation by civil society institutions, parent and student (pupil) organizations, and professional associations, in management of education, primarily through transparency and openness of the education system and creation of legal mechanisms for lobbying and ensuring public influence;

Recommend creation of an international system of review and evaluation of education policy and practice, with participation of civil society and international expert and professional associations;

The G8 leaders need to further develop international exchanges on the sharing of good and best practice in the field of education governance as well as ensuring that the governors and educational professionals have access to high quality continuous professional development programs.

The civil education development

Recognizing the civil education as a socially oriented public and state system of constant education and nurturing, aimed at developing civil competence, a culture of democracy, and fulfillment of social needs in the interests of character development, civil society and the law-based state, enabling individuals to deal with problems, adapt to changing socio-economic and political conditions, and represent and defend their own rights and interests while respecting the interests of others

To declare 2007 the Year of Civil Education, which would entail:

• Development, in partnership with civil society institutions, of a plan for joint actions by G8 member states; initiation of development of national and international legal normative acts regulating this sphere, including a UN Convention on Civil Education project, with its review by the General Assembly;

• Acknowledgement of the 'third sector' of our countries as an equal partner in promotion and realization of civil education; creation of an International Research Centre (Fund) for this purpose to study these problems, with the following key tasks:

- Accumulation and proliferation of experience of public practice within educational institutions and the life of local communities,

- Development of mutually acceptable concepts of civil education, educational standards, and quality-control criteria;

- Development and advancement of innovations, civil education techniques and legal advice.

• To recognize, that creation and realization of systematic civil education is impossible without combining the activities of state (and municipal) education with the informal methods of non-government institutions in this sphere.

The Inclusive Education Development

Taking into consideration that currently, over 115 children worldwide do not go to school, and targeting free, comprehensive, quality education for all children provided by the Fast Track Initiative (FTT) of the 'Education for All' program, we invite all the G8 states:

• To support the obtained results in the acknowledgement of the fact that all children must be included in education, with particular attention to children vulnerable to exclusion from society: disabled children, children with HIV/AIDS, orphans and similar, homeless children, children from ethnic minorities, and immigrants;

• To conclude inter-state agreements for promotion of wide-ranging cooperation between representatives of state structures and schools, pedagogical institutions and civil organizations, particularly in respect of organizations of people with disabilities and their families, in order to promote inclusive education for all, at all levels of education, in the G8 countries, to reflect the inclusive education principles in the local legislations;

• To allocate 10 billion US dollars annually per year to realization of the 'Education for All' program and its Fast Track Initiative in order to allow all children to be included in the education process under this program.

Creation and Development of the global educational sphere

With a view to organize the inter-civilizations dialogue on the basis of equal representation of all the world paradigms in all regions to create Centers of inter-civilization (inter-cultural) educational dialogue, which would include:

- permanent educational trainings “UN Model”, “EU Model”, Unesco Model”, to elaborate international consensus for multilateral negotiations;

- concentrated presentation of educational proposals in the form of abroad education, grant support by the G8 states and other communities;

- libraries of educational programs and literature of various cultures and civilizations with a view to create mutual training projects and other forms of teaching;

- regular scientific and students’ exchanges with the partly financial and organizational support by the state and with the mixed state and donors financing.

Multicultural education for migrants and national minorities integration

To provide equal possibilities for person development, education, job placement and career, as well as the participation of all citizens representing various ethnic and religious status, particularly, national minorities and migrants:

• To form a complex of activities to raise national minorities motivation for education;

• To provide guarantees of access to education for all people regardless for nationality and habitation place;

• To create an effective system of targeted social support of getting full quality education for migrants and refugees.

• To fully encourage ethno-cultural educational initiatives, especially, aimed at learning national languages at the level allowing preservation of national identity.

• To cultivate tolerance and peace-ableness through the learning of world religions history as a part of world culture, not by methods of religious or atheistic propaganda.

• To provide through the national educational system the migrants’ education at the level allowing the communication and professional activities, acknowledgement of the culture and history of the country of habitation, to provide free professional retraining for their job placement within the deficit specialties.

Expert opinion

Halter Marek

02.12.06

Halter Marek
Le College de France
Olivier Giscard d’Estaing

02.12.06

Olivier Giscard d’Estaing
COPAM, France
Mika Ohbayashi

02.12.06

Mika Ohbayashi
Institute for Sustainable Energy Poliñy
Bill Pace

02.12.06

Bill Pace
World Federalist Movement - Institute for Global Policy
Peter I. Hajnal

01.12.06

Peter I. Hajnal
Toronto University, G8 Research Group


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