Ephraim Mhlanga
Ninth Pan Commonwealth Forum (PCF9) Conference
Saide was honoured to be represented by Ephraim Mhlanga at the 9th Pan Commonwealth Forum Conference. The main conference theme was ‘Innovations for Quality Education and Lifelong Learning’, with six sub-themes on Employability; Equity and Inclusion; Opening up Education; Technology and Special Focus: Education for Girls. It was attended by nearly 500 delegates from over 61 countries across the Commonwealth community. Read more
The PCF9 presented a vibrant occasion for sharing and exchange of ideas. It was attended by ministers of education, government officials, academics, administrators, education non-governmental organisations, and civil societies.
Sarah Brown, Executive Chair of Global Business Coalition Education, gave an insightful talk on the importance of achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4). “If we don’t change the world now, by 2030 we will have 400 million children leaving school without basic skills needed for the workforce”, she emphasized.
Professor Sugata Mitra, addressed the conference on the principle of self-organised learning, premised on the philosophy that if children are provided with computer and Internet facilities, they can organise their own learning. He remarked, “We need a curriculum of what we don’t know yet; a pedagogy that is immersed in the Internet; and an assessment that looks for heuristics over process and method”.
The Founder and Executive Director of Global Future Education Foundation and Institute, Marc Prensky, spoke on 'What the World Needs from Education'. Marc believes that what is changing is what an “education” is and what “being educated” means. He noted that “Learning is not the same as education, learning is a means to the goal of education”, which is making our children become good, effective, world improving people.
A highlight of the conference was the development of a statement of action – the Edinburgh Statement and Forum partners from over 60 countries believe that it is possible to significantly accelerate progress towards the aim and targets of SDG4 by prioritising collective actions’.