Mr. Yusuf Sayed - Senior Researcher, University of Sussex – UK
Thank you. I would like to thank the Chair and the Independent Expert and the organising
team not for just organising a forum on an important issue, but organising it in a manner
in which I think we focused on action orientated recommendations through which we
raised the important issue of values, principles and goals.
I think what I just want to talk very briefly about is to make a number of points about
what people have started off yesterday with and continued throughout about the type of
document that one wants to see at the end. But I want to raise it in terms of I consider
some of the key conceptual issues.
Let me begin by just making one observation when you count the bullet points from
section 4 onwards, you generate a list of 48 bullet points in five categories. I think it is not
an issues, I just think you need to reflect on it. I think it might be prudent to reduce these
and reduce it in a way I think as stated in the initial part of the document but I will
[recourse] that the early part of the document says: ‘what we laying out is minimum
requirements for an effective strategy’. I think instead, you should, [recourse] it as: ‘these
are the normative essential characteristics for any country to claim to have a good quality
education system that promotes the right of education for minorities’. So in other words
you list sharp focused and fewer points.
Now on to the, I think, one point I want to raise is not about style but I think what needs to
be threaded much clearly through the recommendation is ‘who is responsible for which
action?’ and ‘what?’. I think sometimes it states and sometimes it is the authorities which is
fine. But I also think sometimes we need to clarify the responsibilities particularly in the
field of education where authority and responsibilities disperse.
I want to single out the issue of curriculum. States may develop curriculum frameworks
but the actual implementation drafting of curriculum is dispersed either in decentralised
manner to regional authorities and in some cases it is private sector companies that
produce the textbooks. I think we need to have a much sharper delineation and
understanding of the educational process around certain recommendations. Thus, I
suggest by asking who is expected to do what? We only change the style but we also focus
on it.
The second point I think we might be, it might be prudent to separate the bullet points into
those which are statements of action and statements of principle of fact. For example,
under Equal Access to Quality Education for minorities the principle of non-discrimination
is a key to securing equal access to education is a statement of principle. It is what you
believe up-front about access. I think this bullet after that follows which is about
somebody have to ensure that principle is realised.