Schooling and security: advancing the people's commonwealth: W. David McIntyre reports on the 15th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers, held in Edinburgh in October 2003.

• Author: McIntyre, W. David
• Position: Conference Report

The urgency of removing the enormous disparities in access to education in order to make the world 'more secure as well as more fair' was the clear message given by Professor Amartya Sen to the 15th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers. The Nobel laureate in economics, who is Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, gave an inspiring keynote address on 28 October 2003. He argued that insecurity stemmed not only from terrorism and violence but also from social and economic factors. More people died on 11 September 2001 from AIDS than from physical violence.

Sen amplified his theme by offering his hearers six propositions. Firstly, that illiteracy and innumeracy were forms of insecurity, the extreme case of which was 'the certainty of deprivation'. Basic education was a public good that could not, he declared, be delivered by market forces as Adam Smith had recognised. Secondly, basic education was necessary for getting gainful employment and taking up opportunities for trade. Modernising Japan so fostered literacy that by the time of the First World War it was publishing more books than either Britain or the United States. Thirdly, illiterate people could not understand, or insist on, their rights. Fourthly, illiteracy muffled the political opportunities of the underdog. Fifthly, basic education was vital for good health and coping with epidemics. Sixthly, education of women and girls was vital for expanding women's employment, reducing fertility rates and child mortality.

Professor Sen concluded his address by denouncing education that 'narrowed horizons'. He said that 'the nature of education is quite central to peace in the world'. He deplored clash-of-civilisations theory and 'the silly idea of the inevitability of a clash'. He castigated shallow classifications such as India being dubbed a 'Hindu country' when it contained more Muslims than many so-called 'Muslim countries'. Faith-based schooling and religion-based classifications contributed, he said, to political insecurity. 'To ignore everything other than religion in classifying people is to set people up in potentially belligerent camps'. He called for basic, non-sectarian, education that did not just train people in skills but taught them to recognise the nature of the world 'with all its diversity and richness' and 'the importance of freedom and reasoning'.

Discussion of responses to Sen's address took up the early sessions of the conference, the theme of which was 'Closing the Gap: Access, Inclusion and Achievement'. It was a very large conference held in Edinburgh's splendid International Conference Centre--scene of the 1997 CHOGM. In keeping with recent Commonwealth conferences, it exemplified the multi-sectoral approach to development. The idea of 'The People's Commonwealth', which has been fostered since the 1980s, offers the hope of real citizen participation in decision-making. Ministers and officials are joined by professional, non-governmental organisation, and business representatives in the sharing of expertise to tackle common problems.

Long pedigree

Commonwealth education conferences have a long pedigree going back to the Oxford conference of 1959 that initiated the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan. In the 1980s and 1990s they became somewhat circumscribed as short, official ministerial meetings. But at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 2000 the Ministerial Conference was expanded into a wider jamboree. It was combined with a Parallel Symposium of education professionals and civil society organisations. All the meetings were also open to accredited print media people. This pattern was followed again at Edinburgh with the significant new addition of an Education Youth Summit. There was also a 'Showcase of Best Practice' exhibition.

For the Ministerial Conference, 46 countries sent 225 delegates. Zimbabwe and Pakistan, under suspension-from-Commonwealth-councils, were, of course, not invited. The absentees were Antigua, Grenada, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and, surprisingly, Singapore. Size of delegation ran from the one Dominican to the 43 from the United Kingdom. The latter included...