Refleksi : Apakah rezim SBY dan konco-konconya tidak berhasrat membuat bidang pendidikan terbuka untuk rakyat tanpa harus dimiliki dompet tebal ?
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/printArticle.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=326966&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16 Call to make education affordable to all people Publish Date: Wednesday,18 November, 2009, at 12:26 PM Doha Time By Bonnie James Baker, Akasaka, Professor al-Misnad, Dr Dewidar, and Schroder on the dais during the plenary session. Pictures: Ehab Suliaman Education must reach people where they are and should be delivered in the manner it is needed, Qatar Foundation's first World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), which entered its second day yesterday, was told. "The marginalised and de-empowered should be included, and those who can afford must subsidise education for those who cannot," Qatar University president Professor Sheikha Abdulla al-Misnad stated at the plenary session on sustainability. The issue of sustainability at Wise focuses on initiatives that offer new approaches to educational sustainability and contribute to the creation of sustainable global societies. This involves adequate funding, proper governance, suitable accreditation and mechanisms to protect equality, ranging across all levels of public and private education with clear progression routes from one level to another. United Nations undersecretary general for communications and public information, Kiyotaka Akasaka, stated that the time has come for intellectual social responsibility which takes learning and teaching beyond classroom. "Quality of education in some cases cause more harm than good when closed ideologies and lessons of exclusion are taught," he said. Expressing concern about the gender bias in education, Akasaka pointed out that of the 3mn primary school age children deprived of education in western Asia, 64% are girls. Shedding light on the 'low priority' given to education, he observed that 'roughly 20 schools can be built with the cost of posting a single additional soldier in Afghanistan for a year.' "Educational systems which are not evaluated do not deserve to exist," declared Canadian International Development Agency (Egypt) senior education advisor and monitor Dr Ahmed Dewidar while urging to start building capacity for monitoring and evaluation. Germany's former Chancellor Gerhard Schroder asserted that it is the responsibility of the government to fund education. "No talent must be allowed to remain undiscovered. Each individual should be given first class education. If the parents cannot afford, then the society and state should step in," he said. Schroder reiterated that education has to be a 'public good.' If it is a 'private good' the poorer section of the society will not get access, he said. Commenting on this topic, Akasaka subsequently opined that rich families should pay for education even in public universities. Professor al-Misnad remarked that education is the responsibility of every individual and quality education for all is a must. "Education cannot be left alone to the private sector, it should be a combination of both public and private," she said. The Qatar University president also lamented the fact that men in the country were not approaching education as they ought to. "Our universities have more women students," she added. The session was moderated by education broadcaster, journalist and author Mike Baker. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
