AG/RES. 1985 (XXXIV - O/04)
REPORT
OF THE THIRD MEETING OF
MINISTERS OF EDUCATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF CIDI
(Resolution adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 8, 2004)
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AG/RES. 1985 (XXXIV - O/04) REPORT
OF THE THIRD MEETING OF (Resolution adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 8, 2004) |
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THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
HAVING SEEN Resolutions CIDI/RES. 124 (VII-O/02)
"Specialized or sectoral meetings of CIDI", CEPCIDI/RES. 84
(LXXXVII-O/03) "Third Meeting of Ministers of Education within the
framework of CIDI” and CIDI/RES. 153 (IX-O/04) “Report of the Third
Meeting of Ministers of Education within the framework of CIDI;”
RECALLING that the General Assembly instructed the General
Secretariat to provide technical and logistical support to the ministers
of education for follow-up and implementation of the mandates of the
Second and Third Summits of the Americas; TAKING INTO ACCOUNT: That
at the Second Meeting of Ministers of Education, the ministers of
education agreed to hold the Third Meeting of Ministers of Education
within the framework of CIDI;
That the Government of Mexico offered to sponsor the Third
Meeting of Ministers of Education within the framework of CIDI;
That the Second Meeting of the Inter-American Committee on
Education will be held at OAS headquarters on September 27 and 28, 2004,
to follow-up on the decisions adopted by the sectoral authorities and to
prepare for the Fourth Meeting of Ministers of Education, which is
scheduled to be held in 2005; CONSIDERING: That
the Third Meeting of Ministers of Education within the scope of CIDI was
held August 11 to 13, 2003, in Mexico City, Mexico, with the technical
support of the Unit for Social Development and Education and the
Executive Secretariat for Integral Development; The
final report of the Third Meeting of Ministers of Education and the
decisions adopted, contained in document CIDI/RME/doc. 13/03, RESOLVES:
DECLARATION OF MEXICO
We, the Ministers of Education of the member nations of the
Organization of American States, gathered together in Mexico City on
August 11 to 13, 2003, for the Third Meeting of Ministers of Education,
after considering different proposals and varied arguments, resolve the
following declaration: 1.
We are committed to attaining the education goals of the Summits of
the Americas, namely: “promoting the principles of equity, quality,
relevance, and efficiency at all levels of the education system; ensuring,
by 2010, universal access to and completion of quality primary education
for all children and to quality secondary education for at least 75
percent of young people, with increasing graduation rates and lifelong
learning opportunities for the general population; and eliminating gender
disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005.” 2.
We call on the different sectors engaged in educational activities
so we can jointly promote a movement in the hemisphere that will ensure
that education is the central priority of development for all sectors over
the coming decades, thus creating an authentic alliance of the Americas in
favor of education. 3.
We have assumed the commitment of educating the present and future
generations to ensure they are able to participate in a globalized
environment and to construct a hemisphere in which no child is left
behind. 4.
We are aware of the challenges educators face due to increasing
poverty among our populations and the everyday violence of our cities,
together with the destabilizing international events that have occurred
during the slightly more than two years since the Third Summit of the
Americas. 5.
We recognize the need to make education one of the tools of
development to achieve greater social equality and to overcome poverty. We
affirm the need to make sure that the economic development policies
adopted by the countries of the hemisphere support their public education
policies. 6.
We hold that our societies will fully achieve their cultural,
economic, and political development by placing top priority on expenditure
and investment in quality education of all kinds, levels, and modalities,
in scientific research, in technological development, and in disseminating
and preserving the cultural diversity that is a source of wealth and
inspiration for our societies and their education programs. 7.
We assume
our responsibility of consolidating an education system that is committed
to democracy as a way of life, to social justice free of exceptions, and
to respect for basic freedoms and individual dignity, avoiding all
discrimination and intolerance. We therefore appreciate the statements
made at our meeting by the organizations of civil society and indigenous
communities. Collaboration among all sectors of our societies is crucial
in attaining our goals. 8.
We recognize the importance of instilling democratic awareness,
culture, and values in the present and future generations, and of the
principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, particularly those
dealing with education as a key means for strengthening democratic
institutions, promoting the development of human potential, alleviating
poverty, and fostering greater understanding among peoples, and we urge
that efforts be made to incorporate those principles into our educational
programs in accordance with the laws of each country. 9.
We are aware of the priority of the goals set by the Heads of State
and Government if we are to prevent future generations from expending
resources on correcting the educational shortcomings of today’s society.
10.
We believe we can accomplish the education goals set by the Summits
of the Americas by increasing our countries’ investment in education and
by making efficient use of those resources. We recommend that our
governments explore financing strategies for advancing education in our
hemisphere that include: increased public funding for this sector and
private-public partnerships. In addition, several among us consider it
worthwhile to explore the possibility of debt-for-education swaps. We
recognize that such initiatives must be developed in coordination with our
ministries of finance and with respect to our countries’ legislation. 11.
We applaud the joint efforts of the IDB and the OAS in analyzing
the problem of education funding in the hemisphere and in identifying
strategies to counteract its negative effects. We will thus continue with
national, subregional, and hemispheric dialogues to analyze the challenges
of funding education, involving finance ministers, education ministers,
and members of the business community who are committed to educational
endeavors. Another priority is to analyze and discuss the commitment that
is required from our political organizations, legislatures, and mass media
with respect to education funding and its accomplishment and
sustainability, and we urge the hemispheric community to make efforts in
that regard. 12.
We are
convinced that better information is indispensable if we are to improve
education. Collectively, we have made a good start by analyzing and
publishing data through the indicators of the Summit project led by Chile
and with particular support from UNESCO/OREALC and other international
agencies. We will advance with a second stage in this effort, improving
and extending the comparable indicators and focusing on strengthening the
ability of our ministries to gather information and make good use of it.
Additionally, we assume the commitment, in each of our nations, of
focusing and intensifying efforts to assess the progress made by our
students at all levels. 13.
During
the United Nations Literacy Decade, which began this year under the aegis
of UNESCO, we will pursue literacy
programs in the continent in order to attain the goals set forth in the
Dakar Commitment on Education for All. 14.
We are
aware of the vital importance of quality basic education for children as a
mechanism for securing their physical development and wellbeing, the
optimal development of their intellectual capacities, and their creative
imaginations and ethical sensitivities. Among the neediest population
groups, basic education must be supplemented with prenatal attention,
nutrition, and health care for children from birth onwards. We thus
reaffirm our commitment of guaranteeing equitable opportunities, including
those segments of the population with special educational needs, through
continuous support in order to provide a safe, wholesome, and properly
structured environment. 15.
We recognize that although we have made progress with enrolment in
and coverage of basic education over the past decade, we agree to continue
implementing policies to increase coverage and retention and to prevent
scholastic failure. So that the children of the neediest families can
remain in school, we recommend implementing support programs, such as
scholarships, transfers to cover the opportunity costs faced by the very
poor, and other social protection policies. 16.
We
agree to make the necessary efforts to expand the coverage of secondary
and high-school education, particularly in the technical arena, including
the elements necessary for preparing our young people for life,
citizenship, and the workplace, and incorporating into that learning
process broad elements of creativity, innovation, and the development of
entrepreneurial skills, together with an understanding of economic and
educational realities, free enterprise, the role of the state, civil
society, and the media, and the development of skills and virtues for
their incorporation into those realities. All this must be accompanied by
a system to certify the knowledge and skills of those students who
graduate from these levels of education. 17.
We
express our fullest recognition and profound gratitude to teachers,
promoters of community education, literacy instructors, and, in general,
all the men and women whose professional mission in life is to educate and
seek knowledge. In addition, we reaffirm our commitment toward working to
maximize the status enjoyed by educators. 18.
We underscore the importance of the forums for debating and
exchanging experiences and proposals created by the nations of the
Americas to generate a continuous process of education, assessment,
training, and professional development for teachers, which will serve as a
tool for meeting the challenge of interconnecting education policy with
social realities, in order to promote equity, overcome the educational
differences existing between rich and poor, and, with the help of modern
information and communications technologies, devise pedagogical models
that will afford teachers proper professional development. 19.
We urge our
educational communities to increase their efforts to channel education
toward achieving committed quality. 20.
We recognize the importance of identifying, organizing, and
exchanging best practices. We support their critical transfer, together
with that of consolidated programs, and we urge the OAS Unit for Social
Development and Education to continue with and expand this initiative,
incorporating programs from the largest possible number of member states.
We also encourage the use of the tools the OAS has at hand to support the
implementation of this strategy. 21.
We are pleased to have formally established the Inter-American
Committee on Education, the technical and political functions of which
must work for and build consensus in favor of hemispheric and subregional
programs and support the pursuit of the mandates of the Summits of the
Americas. We call for permanent participation by organizations and
agencies at the international and other levels in helping to design,
execute, and follow up on the CIE’s programs, thereby allowing closer
coordination on projects that address issues common to them. 22.
We agree to guarantee the continuity of the Summit projects
currently underway: the Regional Education Indicators Program and the
Hemispheric Assessment Forum. We also instruct the CIE to develop programs
in the areas of equity and quality, education, training, evaluation, the
professional development of teachers, and secondary and high-school
education, using new information and communication technologies as their
shared axis. 23.
We thank the Mexican people and government for the special welcome
they have extended to us during this Third Meeting of Ministers of
Education. In particular, we
would like to acknowledge the work of Mexico’s Secretariat of Public
Education in ensuring the success of this event. We would also like to
recognize the importance of the encouraging message given by the President
of the United Mexican States, Vicente Fox, on the occasion of the
meeting’s inauguration.
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