PRIME MINISTER RAILA ODINGA CALLS FOR IMPROVED QUALITY EDUCATION



Prime Minister Raila Odinga addressing the Education Without Borders Forum in the UAE,the Premier has proposed teachers and students exchange programme between developed and developing countries to ensure quality of education in dveloping countries.

 Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called for increased student and teachers exchange programmes between institutions in developed and developing nations as a way of bridging the gaps in access to quality education currently experienced in the world.
Addressing the 2011 Education Without Borders World Forum in Dubai, UAE, Mr Odinga said Kenya, like other developing countries, is truggling to provide universal access to education but quality remains a challenge.
Mr Odinga said while revolutions in communications and information technology have broken down barriers that once kept countries and markets apart, a divide still exists in access to quality education that would make those graduating from colleges have equal chances to compete for jobs globally.
"Today, we live in a world where good jobs are no longer local affairs. Well paying jobs can today be located anywhere there's an Internet connection. The emerging world also means a child learning in Kenya is directly competing with children learning here in the United Arab Emirates , in UK , US and China . This requires that the children should have access to same quality of education," the PM said.

He challenged global corporations that are looking for employes on a global scale to invest in provision of quality education as a way of investing in the future of their businesses.
He said the Government of Kenya is putting emphasis on creating the physical infrastructure for learning and also provide incentives for pupils to remain in school, including food where there is none.
Mr Odinga said the emreging world called for fundamental changes in education to ensure those graduating from schools are trade literate, sensitive to foreign cultures, conversant in different languages, technology savvy, capable of managing complexity and citizens who uphold high ethical and moral ideals.
"Business as usual cannot produce desired results. We need to inculcate in the younger population, their teachers and parents that understanding the true economic, social and political forces at work in the world is essential in solving problems on a local and global level" he said.
The one week Education Without Borders World Conference was opened by former British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair who emphasised that access to education alone was not enough if the learning students was accessing lacked quality and relevance.
One way to bridge the quality gap and ensure cross-culture understanding is by fostering student and teacher exchange programs between nations and institutions, Mr Odinga said.
He said many schools and colleges in Kenya are today experimenting with multi-language curricula or are introducing a number of foreign languages where in the past they were content with English alone.

Kelvin Mwangi,
Nairobi.