Welcome Remarks by the Chairman
of The UNESCO National Commission and Minister for Science, Technology
and Higher Education of the United Republic of Tanzania, Hon. Ambassador
Dr Puis Yasebasi Ng'wandu (Mp)
Your Excellency, Hon. Benjamin William Mkapa, President
of the United Republic of Tanzania,
Your Excellency, Pr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO,
Sir John Daniels, Assistant Director General, Education, UNESCO,
Honourable Armoogum Parsuramen, Director of UNESCO, BREDA,
His Excellency, Mr. Amara Essy, President of the Committee, African
Union,
Honourable Professor Kader Asmal, Minister of Education of South Africa
and Outgoing President of the Intergovernmental Committee, MINEDAF VIII
Mr. Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS,
Ms. Carole Belamy, Executive Secretary , UNICEF,
Ms. Jennifer Chiwela, Member of the African Network Campaignon EFA and
Regional Focal Point NGO OF CONGO/EFA,
Honourable Ministers of Education,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Distinguished participants Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me to avail myself of this opportunity to welcome all the delegates
to our beautiful country, Tanzania, and specifically to the historic
city of Dar es Salaam. For the first time in the history of MINEDAF
and, indeed, the history of our country this conference is taking place
in Tanzania. I take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude
to the Director General of UNESCO for having facilitated Tanzania's
responsibility as the host of this conference.
Honourable Guest of Honour,
MINEDAF VIII is taking place against the background of landmark transformations
that the African continent has witnessed in the past few years. We,
African countries, have successfully transformed the erstwhile Organization
of African Unity into a more versatile organization, the African Union,
for our collective socio-economic development.
Prior to that, Honourable Guest of Honour, African states had
adopted and committed themselves to the New Economic Partnership for
African Development (NEPAD}, a new philosophical disposition which is
"anchored on the determination of Africans to extricate themselves
and the continent from the malaise of underdevelopment and exclusion
in a globalizing world".
Furthermore, Ladies and Gentlemen, let us remind ourselves that
MINEDAF VIII is taking place a couple of years after the World Education
Forum and at the verge of the deadline of the Dakar Framework for Action.
Hence, MINEDAF VIII offers an excellent opportunity for us to re- examine
and reassert our collective commitment to the advancement of education
in our continent.
Dear Delegates, the challenge of Education for all is a challenge against
poverty. Although Africa as a whole registered tremendous economic progress
through the 1990s, and this claim is borne out by the fact that by 1999,
none of the African countries had registered negative GDP growth, poverty
still bogs down the majority of the countries. About 52% of the population
in Africa South of the Sahara still subsists on less than US$1 (one)
per day. This is a sorrowful state of affairs which must be redressed.
Education is the only panacea for this malaise.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Extension of primary education to all by the year
2015, as projected by the World Education Forum, presupposes not only
extension of access to education but also improvement of its quality.
To drive this point home let us consider the following figures:
