Dr Sunil Nawaratne,
Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Government of Sri Lanka

Young population needs to be endowed with knowledge of Modern Science

We have the vision to turn Sri Lanka into Asia’s hub of cost effective and quality education. The people of the country, and its leaders understand very well, that without comprehensive knowledge in every vertical, the country will be unable to achieve its long term development goals. The key to prosperity lies in human capital development, and higher education plays a bigger role.

Improving the quality of graduates
Sri Lanka intends to have top-class higher education institutes, which are devoted to enriching society by producing a long line of  highly educated graduates. The universities must have understanding of the needs of the global industry to inculcate the job winning  skills in their graduates. Currently, the country is working on a mission of upgrading 7 out of its 15 universities into world class  universities. We also aim to come up with educational policies to ensure that 100 percent of the graduates are employable.

Most important skills
The most important skills and capabilities required while recruiting new graduates are communication skills, team work, integrity, intellectual ability and confidence. While the students are being taught in the college, it is also important to incorporate these skills in them. A programme of leadership skill development has been introduced at certain universities, under which the students are given  three weeks of training to mould their mindsets and inculcate in them leadership skills and other skills.
To improve IT and communication skills, English and IT training is given to all students before they enter the university. A professional graduate programme has been introduced wherein students doing their graduation can obtain professional qualifications like accounting, smart chartered, marketing or human resource management, etc. while they are completing their graduation in the  university itself. To develop globally accepted graduates, we have introduced a KSAM model. KSAM stands for Knowledge, Skills,  Attitude and Mindset.

Dr Pascal Chazot,
Member of Parliament in France for French Overseas; President,
National Commission of Employment and Training, France

Diversity in the classroom is the best possible asset

In 1988, I had spent a day in Paris with a very famous director Steven Spielberg. He wanted to persue a course in cinema and prepare  for his Bachelors. But the University found that he was not qualified enough for that course. And now after 25 years, the same university has awarded him an honorary degree in cinematography. This clearly shows how the education system runs. So basically  the problem is total inadequacy between the real world and the education system. We have to change the system, to make it good  enough for the needs of the real world. Because we are basically looking at human beings, and through education we are contributing to society, to a human world.

Components of change
When we say that we need to change, what are the main components of this change? Basically when you talk about education, often we look at the big picture, the numbers and the figures are important especially in India, where we have hundreds of millions of students.  However, instead of looking at large masses, we have to distil education down to one human being, one child who has grown around  the years. To understand education, we should really remember this child, and do everything possible for this child. As far as I am   concerned, I consider that education is what is happening in the classroom, the methodology, the relationship between the teacher  and the child. This is very important. And it goes through from preprimary level to the high school level. I think that is the most important factor because basically we are looking at the development of human being.
Textbooks, memorising, and content centric education are totally obsolete in today’s context. Content is available in any of the  instruments like iPad, tablets of other make or mobile phone. You have all the contents that you need for your work. I don’t think you   need to memorise anything. There is some other knowledge, which is much more important. There is knowledge that helps us develop  the skill, the one that allows us to grow, to succeed in life and basically be happy in life. So that is why when we look at necessary  change in education, we look at the change in methodology, the change in the pedagogy, on what is happening inside the classroom.

Learning can be easy
I have spent lots of time trying to teach my cat to speak French, it never spoke French. But to my daughter I never taught anything, but she learnt Hindi, because we are in India, she learnt Gujarati, she also learnt French, because I talk to her in French, she learnt English, because we are communicating in English. So we need education that is exponential, we need education that is useful.
The system has to change, we need to find solution. The immensity of the problem needs immensity of solution. In order to progress, we need to have contradiction, debate, different ideas and that is why we need diversity. Diversity in the classroom is the biggest  possible asset in education. It was a crazy idea back in 1998; today in 2012, it has become a national reality. Right to Education has  been voted by both the houses of the Indian Parliament and it is progressing slowly because there is lot of resistance, but the idea is going on. And I think that was a very important step ahead.
Creating lot of networks, collaboration is very important. In my work in the National Commission of Employment and Training, travelling is extensive. We have to also look at this possibility of exchange between different countries, different communities,  different paths, accepting the different systems of education, giving value to them. I think sharing, collaboration and putting networks into place are the key to holistic development.

Dr Theophilus Mooko
Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Skills Development, Republic of Botswana

The rising number of young people who are forced to remain out of work for long periods is indicative of a deeper malaise in the work   programme

To make the most out of knowledge economy, we need a sustainable economic model that ensures fair distribution and efficient allocation of resources. It is imperative that our economic growth maintains a healthy balance with our ecosystem.
Internet and  computer technologies are now essential tools of production that have expanded value creation capability from corporations and  industrial complexes to individuals and networks. Application of ICT- based learning cycle brings more efficiency to  the deployment of physical resources. The trend of increasing transparency of information and greater citizen participation also shapes the methodologies for a feedback system for a sustainable economy. The calibration mechanism for the Lisbon vision must include consistent, relevant, and comparable indicators that allow a high degree of participation and usefulness to a wide variety of users.
Youth unemployment across the globe has risen alarmingly. The rising number of young people who are forced to remain out of work for long periods is indicative of a deeper malaise in the work programme. In most countries, particularly in Africa, we have a challenge of  (discourse) mismatch. We have been able to produce lot of graduates, most whom are now out in the streets. The challenge that we face today is to find a way of ensuring that we are able to not only deal with the current problem but also avoid similar situations in future.
Massive poverty and obscene inequality are terrible scourges of our times. Economic growth will not reduce poverty, improve equality and produce jobs unless it is inclusive. Inclusive  growth is also essential for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The globalisation process, when properly managed, becomes an important ingredient for inclusive growth. There are  also issues related to environmental sustainability. We talk about globalisation, but there are certain issues that make it difficult for certain communities to participate in the global economy.

View from Botswana
I come from a very small country called Botswana, where the population is only 2 million, and yet there is high youth unemployment. We are trying our best to work with our partners, to address this particular problem. Botswana has, since independence in 1966, maintained a stable democracy. A stable government and an expanding economy have made possible, a steady growth in the education system. Educational skills development needs to be demand driven and this means that we need a shift in the relationship  between government and industry, between institutions and industry, so that we see the industry playing more prominent role in the  development and delivery of programmes.
Today, in Botswana, we are able to access partnerships with some of the Indian universities, some programmes that are offered in this  country. And, we believe that we need to see more, open up more partnerships and collaboration in different areas. Educational  developments in Botswana can be attributed to  two policies based on the findings of the Presidential Commissions of 1976 and 1993. The first National Policy on Education was adopted in 1977 and it focused on increasing access to education.
Finally, I want to emphasise on the importance of indigenous learning systems. Distance learning remains the only viable option for  reaching out to dispersed groups of teachers in remote areas. Additionally, it is cost-effective and convenient for learners who cannot leave their work to study on full-time programmes.
Our Government has played its part by investing adequate financial resources for the creation of the Botswana College of Distance and  Open Learning. Hopefully this will lead to our youth gaining the capability of accessing better employment opportunities.

Happiness should be the aim of education and a good education should contribute significantly to personal and collective happiness. Children and even adults learn the best when they are happy. Education translated to knowledge brings happiness to the lives because of a higher understanding of life itself. Knowledge should lead to truth and truthful living and hence education which is the first step in the journey of knowledge for life and learning is so important in every child’s future. As children we must have read a shanti (peace) mantra from Rigveda that reads
Let my speech reflect my mind. Let my mind be reflect my speech. Let the almighty reveal Himself to me. Let my mind and speech enable me to understand Truth of the scriptures. Let me hear the truth that does not desert me. Let me spend all my time in the pursuit of truth. Let me think Truth. Let me speak Truth and let Truth protect me and the teacher and then let peace prevail against evil and peace be to this world. This is the essence of knowledge and our learning for it is truly said of truth that you don’t have to remember what you said having spoken truth.
Education and learning is not about earning degrees. It is the ability to understand Nature, understand life and acquire an insight to our existence. In an unobtrusive way, we need to ask questions about this knowledge itself. We need not be satisfied with all the descriptions and the pictures that we build on top of our knowledge. Beneath this show of pictures and descriptions, we should ask what we really know and then ask what happiness is; beneath all the desired objects through which we pursue happiness, or run away from it.
We need to lead by example in the need to pursue knowledge and here Chandogya Upanishad tells us of an allegory through which Svetaketu, a young man, the son of sage Uddalaka and the grandson of sage Aruni, represents the etrnal seeker of knowledge. The Upanishad entails the journey of Svetaketu from ignorance to knowledge of the self and truth. The allegory takes us through the journey of Education transcending the boundaries of ignorance leading us to knowledge and learning.
India, with 1.22 billion people is the second most populous country in the world, representing almost 17.31 percent of the world’s population and with the population growth rate at 1.58 percent, India is predicted to have more than 1.53 billion people by the end of 2030.
More than 50 percent of India’s current population is below the age of 25 and over 65 percent below the age of 35. About 72.2 percent of the population lives in some 638,000 villages and the rest 27.8 percent in about 5,480 towns and urban agglomerations. Though the literacy rate of India as per 2001 Population Census is 65.38 percent, the Gross enrolment ratio (GER) is abysmally small pegged at around 20 percent.
India’s official poverty rate stands at 29.8 percent or close to 350 million people using 2010 population figures, down from around 37.2 percent or 400 million previously with the number of people living in absolute poverty in India having decreased by 12.5 percent between 2004-2005 and 2009-2010. These are still massive figures by any standards to contend with.
The only redemption out of this malaise is education and consequent happiness quotient that brings in prosperity to people of this Country. Human beings can distinguish between good and bad because of their consciousness, and when in trouble they can find a way out because of the education and consequent understanding they imbibe of life. No one likes to live in misery and suffering and we have a duty to our children, to make their lives fill with happiness. 
Despite growing investment in education, 25 percent of its population is still illiterate with a 20 percent GER. In this overall context we need More Universities, More colleges and even more schools. Infrastructure apart which needs huge investments, we need to create enabling mechanisms for our children to reach schools and colleges. 
We as a country need to support the initiatives of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in its endeavor to raise the quality of life for its children. As Aristotle said “those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, these the art of living well” The Right of children to Free and Compulsory Education Act that came into force from April 1 2010 is a singularly distinguished service that has been done to the children of this Country. Every child in the age group of 6-14 years will be provided 8 years of elementary education in an age appropriate classroom in the vicinity of his / her neighborhood.
In providing a universal entitlement to education, a right that is recognized as a human right at-least there now is a way forward. In addition to these access to education provisions, the right to education encompasses the obligation to rule out discrimination at all levels of the educational system, to set minimum standards and to improve quality of education. 
In a world of massive disparities and uneven competition all around, values inculcated in our children would do them a world of good and it is time we revisited our school education to include robust value systems in the growing years of a child. This of course will have to be supplemented by the family, friends, peers and society to build great citizens.
There cannot be a bigger curse than being in poverty. To overcome poverty and consequent inability to pursue education, a financial model that includes banks and private players in addition to the Government’s efforts in creating a corpus to provide long term soft loans needs to be put in place on a priority basis. Like Derek Bok an American Educator said, If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. The choice is ours.
Access and affordable quality education being so important to growth needs to be viewed in the light of mandatory accreditation of our Universities, Institutions colleges and even our schools. The day we are able to provide affordable quality education to all our children this Country would be able to compete in a highly globalised world on its own terms notwithstanding the happiness quotient since happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open. Like the Native American saying goes, “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand.” Knowledge and learning required to understand life would automatically follow. The Nation would be richer with the efforts.