UNESCO collaborates with IGNOU
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) today signed an Agreement of Cooperation (AoC) for identifying special programmes and activities of IGNOU for Co- branding and the development of strategic cooperation through academic exchange and collaboration for advancement of quality education and training.
Her Excellency Ms. Irina G. Bokova, Director General, UNESCO who delivered the IGNOU Silver Jubilee Special Lecture on “Building Inclusive Knowledge Societies in a Globalised World: Opportunities and Risks”, in the IGNOU campus, signed the AoC with IGNOU Vice Chancellor, Prof. VN Rajasekharan Pillai, today.
Under the AoC, IGNOU and UNESCO have decided to collaborate in promoting an integrated system of research, training, demonstration, knowledge management and documentation activities in the fields of journalism and media studies, science education, teacher training and ICT-enhanced distance learning through effective and innovative use of new communication technologies, particularly in the rural, urban and semi urban areas, both in the country and in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The collaboration is also expected to enhance interdisciplinary research, strengthen local and indigenous knowledge systems and developing methods for evaluating and applying science and technology with a view to the development of sustainable practices for human resource development.
Stating that this will be a year to build bridges between cultures and people, Ms Bokova also announced the launch of the International Year of Rapprochement between Cultures, for which UNESCO is the lead agency. “As part of it, we shall be setting up an interdisciplinary programme around the works of three great poets, three resoundingly human and universal voices: Rabindranath Tagore, the Chilean Pablo Neruda and Aimé Césaire from Martinique”, she added.
Speaking about the other future endeavours of UNESCO in the Special Lecture, the Director General said, “Here in India, our General Conference approved the creation of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Peace and Sustainable Development, which I am confident will contribute to shaping more inclusive knowledge societies”.
The UNESCO Director General further said that UNESCO will be inaugurating the 2010 edition of the ‘Education for All’ Global Monitoring Report, which will focus on deep inequalities within societies, next week at the United Nations, along with the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The report addresses the scale of deprivation and its underlying causes. It has developed a new tool for measuring marginalization that will help identify the key characteristics of those who are being left behind. The results highlight the powerful influence of social circumstances – being born in a poor household, living in a rural area, speaking a minority language – on life chances.
There are also plans to create a High Level Panel on Peace and Dialogue among cultures composed of eminent persons from all fields and a similar panel on science which will advise UNESCO on the most effective policies to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development.
The function was presided over by Smt. D. Purandeswari, Honorable Minister of State, Human Resource Development and chaired by IGNOU VC, Professor VN Rajasekharan Pillai. Mr A. Parsuramen, Director UNESCO(India) was also present.
In her presidential address, Smt. Purandeswari said, “India’s demographic advantage can only be realized if opportunities to the youth expand through education. Education is a powerful driver for socio-economic change and the expansion, inclusion and quality improvement of higher education through more spending and partnerships with private institutions, is the goal of the Indian Government.”
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) today signed an Agreement of Cooperation (AoC) for identifying special programmes and activities of IGNOU for Co- branding and the development of strategic cooperation through academic exchange and collaboration for advancement of quality education and training.
Her Excellency Ms. Irina G. Bokova, Director General, UNESCO who delivered the IGNOU Silver Jubilee Special Lecture on “Building Inclusive Knowledge Societies in a Globalised World: Opportunities and Risks”, in the IGNOU campus, signed the AoC with IGNOU Vice Chancellor, Prof. VN Rajasekharan Pillai, today.
Under the AoC, IGNOU and UNESCO have decided to collaborate in promoting an integrated system of research, training, demonstration, knowledge management and documentation activities in the fields of journalism and media studies, science education, teacher training and ICT-enhanced distance learning through effective and innovative use of new communication technologies, particularly in the rural, urban and semi urban areas, both in the country and in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The collaboration is also expected to enhance interdisciplinary research, strengthen local and indigenous knowledge systems and developing methods for evaluating and applying science and technology with a view to the development of sustainable practices for human resource development.
Stating that this will be a year to build bridges between cultures and people, Ms Bokova also announced the launch of the International Year of Rapprochement between Cultures, for which UNESCO is the lead agency. “As part of it, we shall be setting up an interdisciplinary programme around the works of three great poets, three resoundingly human and universal voices: Rabindranath Tagore, the Chilean Pablo Neruda and Aimé Césaire from Martinique”, she added.
Speaking about the other future endeavours of UNESCO in the Special Lecture, the Director General said, “Here in India, our General Conference approved the creation of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Peace and Sustainable Development, which I am confident will contribute to shaping more inclusive knowledge societies”.
The UNESCO Director General further said that UNESCO will be inaugurating the 2010 edition of the ‘Education for All’ Global Monitoring Report, which will focus on deep inequalities within societies, next week at the United Nations, along with the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The report addresses the scale of deprivation and its underlying causes. It has developed a new tool for measuring marginalization that will help identify the key characteristics of those who are being left behind. The results highlight the powerful influence of social circumstances – being born in a poor household, living in a rural area, speaking a minority language – on life chances.
There are also plans to create a High Level Panel on Peace and Dialogue among cultures composed of eminent persons from all fields and a similar panel on science which will advise UNESCO on the most effective policies to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development.
The function was presided over by Smt. D. Purandeswari, Honorable Minister of State, Human Resource Development and chaired by IGNOU VC, Professor VN Rajasekharan Pillai. Mr A. Parsuramen, Director UNESCO(India) was also present.
In her presidential address, Smt. Purandeswari said, “India’s demographic advantage can only be realized if opportunities to the youth expand through education. Education is a powerful driver for socio-economic change and the expansion, inclusion and quality improvement of higher education through more spending and partnerships with private institutions, is the goal of the Indian Government.”
No comments:
Post a Comment