An opinion piece by the British Ambassador to Iraq Frank Baker on the World Education Forum that has been taking place in London this week. Education is more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. It is one of the most important investments a country can make in its people and its future and is critical to its long term prosperity. No country can be successful, no economy prosperous, no society harmonious without real investment in the education system. That is why the annual Education World Forum (EWF), which takes place this week in London in the shadow of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, is such an important event. The EWF brings together ministers and their teams - last year from some 90 countries - to learn from each other about raising the standard of education, adapting to changing needs, and making use of the latest technologies. I am very pleased that the Iraqi Minister for Education, Hussain Al-Shahristani will attend the event, alongside his counterparts from the Kurdish Region of Iraq. The United Kingdom and Iraq have an education system to be proud of, with a long history. The University of Oxford was founded in the 12th century, and compulsory basic education introduced in 1880. In virtually every field of endeavour —in astronomy, alchemy, mathematics, medicine, optics and so forth— Arab scientists were in the forefront of scientific advance in the first millennia. But education systems need to reform continually as societies evolve. The UK is committed to help equip Iraq’s next generation with the skills they need for the future. Over the last three years the British Council has run a €8.6m EU-funded programme to raise the standard of teaching in over 4,400 schools, benefiting 1 million students across Iraq. We did this by training over 24,000 teachers, 9,000 Head teachers and 4,000 supervisors and by developing, with the Ministries of Education, Higher Education and Labour and Social Affairs National Standards for schools, head teachers and teachers. And the British Council’s English for the Future project has improved access to English for young people here too. In the past two years we have tripled the number of candidates sitting for IELTS English language tests. This has enabled thousands of Iraqi government-funded scholars to take up places on Master’s and PhD programmes at UK universities. And of course there are strong professional and personal links between UK and Iraq’s universities. Over 2,000 Iraqi students studied in the UK last year and a number of Iraqis have benefited from the UKs prestigious Chevening Scholarship scheme which offers awards to outstanding scholars to study postgraduate courses at UK universities. The coming months will be a pivotal time for Iraq’s education planners. It is a period in which they want to take education standards to a new level. I am sure the Education World Forum will inspire the Ministers. When they return the British Embassy and the British Council will continue to support them in their efforts to ensure that Iraq’s next generation is equipped with the necessary skills to ensure Iraq’s future development. theewf.org iraq.britishcouncil.org/en gov.uk/government/organisations/ukti-education chevening.org/iraq
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 11:43:06 +0000