ICT for Literacy Workshop for E-9 Countries

From 04-10-2007 to 06-10-2007 (India) 

The E-9 Initiative was launched in New Delhi, India, in 1993, on the occasion of the EFA Summit of the Nine High-Population Countries, (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan). The Heads of State or Government of nine countries signed the Delhi Declaration, committing their countries to reach the Education for All goals in the nearest possible future. The E-9 Ministers of Education have met repeatedly during the past years, reconfirming their commitment to EFA, exchanging experiences and reporting increasingly on significant progress. In this respect and in view of the fact that those countries represent more than half of the world’s population, the E-9 countries have established themselves as a visible political lobby in favour of EFA.

The Beijing Declaration of E-9 countries adopted by the Ministerial Review Meeting in Beijing in 2001 underlined the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to achieve the goals of Education for All (EFA), particularly literacy. The Declaration emphasised inter alia:

The application of ICTs in basic education

The establishment of a network for the use of ICTs through sharing of experiences and resources

Training of teachers and administrators in the use of ICTs

Identification and documentation of best practices in ICTs

In response to the above challenges UNESCO designed a cross-cutting theme project “ICTs for the promotion of literacy, especially in E-9 countries”, which was entrusted to UNESCO Islamabad for implementation in two phases, the first in 2004-05 and the second in 2006-07. While the first phase of the project involved studies on the best practices in this area in seven E-9 countries and their publication, the second phase draws from lessons learnt and results achieved in the previous phase.

It is in this background that a conference of E-9 countries is being organised in Bangalore, India, from 4-6th October 2007 to discuss ICT for Literacy, share best practices and disseminate lessons learnt. This 3-day conference is being jointly hosted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India and UNESCO New Delhi. The first two days of the conference will be devoted to discussions, with the third day being set aside for field visits to see at first hand some of the initiatives taken up in India.