Honourable Youssou DIAGNE, President of the National Assembly of Senegal,
Honourable Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for Education,
Honourable Ministers,
Honourable Parliamentarians,
The Director, UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa,
Honourable Ambassadors,
Representatives of the United Nations System and other international organizations,
Representatives of the Press,
Distinguished Guests,

It gives me much pleasure and a lot of pride to stand in this august Chamber to address such a distinguished audience. I am indeed happy to be here and this for a number of reasons. One of these is the historic links between Senegal and Mauritius. I am reminded that our ancestors have lived on this land at one point in time. Senegal is therefore not foreign to me.

May I thank the Parliament of Senegal for the warm welcome and the hospitality extended to me and to members of my delegation.

It is indeed an honour for me to address my honourable colleagues Speakers, Members of Parliament, officials of UNESCO and other experts in educational matters present here. The purpose of this meeting is to explore possibilities and to find ways and means to set up a forum of Parliamentarians to promote education and knowledge for the benefit of the people of Africa. Until recently education in many countries was exclusively a matter for the Ministry of Education, educationalists and teachers. Parliamentarians had until recent years been content to play their traditional role of legislating and of supervising government action. But the world is changing fast, it is becoming a global village; and numerous challenges are being faced by all countries of the planet and even more challenges are being faced by the African continent.

In this context, Parliamentarians have realized that they must move beyond their traditional role. They have now started occupying grounds which hitherto were the preserves of the executive and a few experts. Parliamentarians are actively participating in conflict resolution enterprise in Africa and elsewhere in the world. They are busy helping the professionals and NGO's in sensitizing and educating populations about HIV/Aids and other dangerous scourges.

They are further fully engaged in poverty alleviation programmes, fight against corruption, drugs, child prostitution etc. They are even claiming that at the decision making level of the WTO, as the representative of their peoples they should have a say. In other words Parliamentarians are more determined than ever to tackle the problems affecting their constituents and society generally.

However, as far as education is concerned Parliamentarians have made only timid attempt to get engaged in the fight against illiteracy. Being given the importance of education and knowledge in this modern world it is required of Parliamentarians that they invest themselves fully in the promotion of education for all. They should think in terms of a powerful network of Parliamentarians to fight illiteracy and promote education for all.

In this regard, Education should certainly not be left out from the province of the Parliamentarians and the inter-parliamentary movements.

Illiteracy is indeed one of the most serious drawbacks of Africa. In fact due to illiteracy and ignorance it has become difficult to fight against other scourges on the continent. For example, amongst other factors, Illiteracy makes it more difficult to fight the HIV/Aid problems.

Education is the basis for all socio-economic development. The rate of literacy in a country has a direct bearing on the development of its economy and society. Just compare the developed economies with those on the African continent. Those countries definitely do not have more natural and mineral resources than many African countries. Some western countries have no natural resources at all. Yet they are economically rich, the standard of living of their people are far higher, their societies are more stable, their people are healthier. Why this difference? We should ask the question. "Why is it so?" In my opinion, it is education which is the single factor which makes the difference. An educated, skilled and trained population will always have a competitive edge over an uneducated people.

With the world becoming a global village, the education and training of all its citizens should be the priority of every state. Any country which fails to realize this fact is bound to suffer from the consequences of underdevelopment and its accompanying ills.

I have no doubt that today, all countries on this globe have realized how important education is for their people. In fact most if not all the countries on the African continent have made of education a priority on their government programmes. This is indeed a good sign. However, the crucial question is how to translate these good intention into realities. Governments alone cannot do it.

In order to achieve this huge project the help and support of every stakeholder has to be enlisted. I must here congratulate and thank the National Assembly of Senegal and my own Parliament for the laudable initiative to call this meeting with a view to setting up an AFRICAN FORUM OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FOR EDUCATION (FAPED). I must however hasten to add that without the unflinching support of the UNESCO through its Regional Office for Education in Africa (BREDA) and the untiring effort of its director Mr. Armoogum Parsuramen, this initiative would not have seen the light of the day. I thank Speaker Youssou Diagne and Parsuramen for their personal dedication.

Today your presence at this meeting is an indication that you all agree with what Mr. Federico Mayor, then Director-General of UNESCO had said at the Meeting of the International Consultative Forum on Education for All, at Amman in 1996. I quote: "After all, education is not the business only of ministers, specialists, UN experts, donor representatives, or education officials. Education involves a true partnership between educators, children, youth, and adult learners, parents and teachers. We need to listen to their concerns. And we need to match their determination and faith in education - education for all, by all and with all. Yes, education is a fundamental right and all the social actors must guarantee the full exercise of this right, including the Parliaments, municipalities, religious authorities and armed forces."

Your presence here also shows your commitment to the Durban statement of commitment adopted by the seventh conference of Education Ministers of African Member States (MINEDAF VII) - I quote:

"We resolved to involve (in an appropriate manner) the entire civil society, as well as non-governmental organizations, the private sector, media organizations, parliamentarians, other ministries, religious organizations and teachers and parent organizations in the planning and execution of programmes and in the mobilization of resources both financial and human. The furtherance of decentralization and the greater sharing of responsibility are helpful measures in this regard, and we are determined to promote these ideals."

It is also good to note that international agencies such as UNESCO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank are devoting their support, both financial and technical to the cause of education. They realize that most of the problems facing the world today can only be solved through the education of the whole population of the world. Inequality of opportunities, social injustice, armed conflict, poverty, illiteracy, gender inequality, child abuse and other related scourges can only be solved through the education of the mass.

How can Parliamentarians contribute to promote the cause of Education for All. Actually Parliamentarians operate in isolation and try to find solution to the educational problems of their constituents by talking Education Ministers, by putting questions in Parliaments. So far, this method of proceeding by Parliamentarians have not fetched satisfactory results. What is required is a collective approach to the problems of education on a national, regional and even on an international basis. Networks will have to be set up in each Parliament comprising Parliamentarians from all parties and all political tendencies to deal with educational issues.

The establishment of a forum of African Parliamentarians for education will have the unique advantage of bringing together Parliamentarians of all African countries and enable them to tackle illiteracy with the benefit of having a wide range of ideas and solutions to solve individual and collective problems of each country and of the region.

It now befalls upon us parliamentarians as representatives of the people in our respective Parliaments to assume our responsibility. Our involvement is imperative in realizing the aims of the different organization such as:

1. The conference of Ministers of Education of African Member States.
2. The Jomtien Conference
3. The World Education for All (EFA) Forum.

In my view this initiative of setting up, an African Forum of Parliamentarians for Education is a landmark step in that direction.

I do not intend to lecture you on how the proposed forum is going to operate. I believe that after a full discussion by all the participants the two following days will bring us to a modus - operandi for the forum.

Je ne terminerais pas sans exprimer ma profonde gratitude au Chef de l'Etat du Sénégal, Maître Abdoulaye WADE, pour son appui au projet et ses efforts remarquables pour bâtir l'Union Africaine et réaliser ce grand et noble dessein qui soulève tant d'enthousiasme et d'espoirs au sein des peuples de notre continent, je veux parler du Nouveau Partenariat pour le Développement de l'Afrique.

Mon pays, Maurice, est une île, mais ce morceau du continent dans l'Océan Indien incarne l'Afrique dans toute sa richesse culturelle, linguistique, religieuse et ethnique. C'est la raison pour laquelle, notre pays s'est engagé résolument à œuvrer pour la construction de la nouvelle Afrique qui va fédérer ses institutions, et notamment les Parlements.

Je forme le vœu que ce projet en gestation voie le jour à Maurice, à l'occasion de la Conférence Générale constitutive prévue en décembre prochain. Le Parlement, le Gouvernement et le peuple mauriciens seront heureux de recevoir à Port Louis les Parlementaires africains. Je vous donne donc rendez-vous à Port-Louis et félicite encore une fois l'Assemblée Nationale du Sénégal et le BREDA pour cette initiative qui bénéficie de notre soutien total.

Je vous remercie de votre attention.