On
the occasion of its 25th anniversary, CESO, the
Center for the Study of Education in Developing
Countries, of Holland, held a symposium in The
Hague on "Culture, Education and Productive
Life in Developing Countries."
The
symposium was participated in by different Third
World countries of South America, Africa and Asia.
It generated a number of concept papers or topics
and issues relevant to the interest and thrust
of INNOTECH.
The
articles, developed as they are in differenet
countries and of different contexts, still somehow
show not only a variety of views, but in fact,
a commonality of concerns.
Six
articles are in line with INNOTECH concerns and
were chosen for this issue of the INNOTECH Journal,
Volum XIII, No. 1 with permission from CESO.
The
keynote address of Dr. Aklilu Habte of the World
Bank expectedly highlighted the critical worsening
situation of education especially in the so-called
Third World.
Citing
international studies, Dr. Habte points out the
"most serious problem facing schools in developing
countries: their apparent inability to teach students
effectively." His solutions on how to "close
the gap" (aside from increased financing)
are quite simple, it is a wonder some of them
have not been resorted to in large scale until
now.
The
wider role of education, outside of schooling
and academics, is succinctly described by Dr.
Leo Dubbeldam, Director of CESO. Dr. Dubbeldam
alludes to the educative process as the guarantee
to the continuation of the culture of a people.
Education is the main agent of transfer of a culture
through the generations. The school, being only
a subsystem of the social complex, is inadequate
to attain this goal of education. More and more,
the need to turn non-formal and adult education
is becoming urgent.
Dr.
Cheng Kai Ming of the faculty of Education of
the University of Hongkong has cultural undertones.
The study will show the relationship between education
and employment among university graduates in Hongkong.
It will try to shed light on the effectiveness
of two kinds of information career councelling--personality
information, which is psychological; and job-market
information, which is economic. The study is inspired
in part by the observation that Hongkong is among
the very few places without unemployment, attributed
in large part to how Asian education has modified
western concepts.
The
description of theater as a communication medium
in community development by Mr. Eberhard Chambulikazi
of the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania strikes
a sympathetic chord with INNOTECH's study of indigenous
learning systems. Citing examples in Tanzania,
Chambulakazi emphasizes theatre's conscientizing
value, apart from its apparent inherent entertainng
value.
The
devastating consequence of war on school children
is the subject of the article by Jan Visser and
Luis Filipe Pereira of Mozambique. While the situation
in Mozambique has much local color, the experience
may carry some valuable lessons to the many places
in th world where people are dislocated as a result
of wars and conflicts of varying intensities.
Only
one paper on the sub-theme education and productive
life, that of Mr. Antonio Cabral de Andrade, was
chosen for this issue. The paper briefly comments
on four controversial questions relative to the
concept.He cites some innovative experiments which
show the pedagogical potential of the production
process to teach students not only to produce,
but also to learn subjects of general knowledge. |
