I would like to offer you all the warmest of welcomes to Ireland for this important event. A great many of you have traveled from right across the world to be here today, and I am delighted to have this opportunity to meet with you.
Your attendance to discuss the issue of Harnessing the Potential of ICTs for Education is an incredible opportunity to share lessons and build partnerships on this crucial global issue.
I know that the wealth of knowledge shared over the next few days will forge stronger links between the different sectors, backgrounds and experiences that are represented. It will help to strengthen the partnerships and build relationships.
Building relationships is a fundamental basis for the work of the UN ICT Task Force and the Global eSchools & Communities Initiative. Those relationships will enable us move towards innovative and sustainable solutions to international developmental issues.
The year 2005 is recognised as a key year for international development efforts because
- The annual G8 Summit has made development a clear international priority by placing the issue of ‘tackling poverty’ on its agenda
- In September, the review on the progress to date on the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015 takes place
- The second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society takes place in November.
Within these Goals, it is not surprising that the second pledge we all made was to ensure that everyone has a basic standard of education.
Education is a powerful tool. With it, whole communities can be empowered. People can be engaged to fully participate in their country’s development and prosperity.
It can be the primary mechanism not only to raise standards of human capital but also to tackle such widespread issues such as the AIDS crisis, gender equality and high-levels of poverty.
It is the foundation to building a modern and thriving society.
But whereas the right to education is recognised as fundamental for each citizen, the reality is that access to facilities is not as egalitarian.
Information and Communication Technologies can provide a practical and enabling solution for improving the quality and quantity of education. ICTs are a tool - a tool to allow us to communicate and share information, to learn and work more efficiently and effectively. It allows us play a greater and more inclusive role in society. It has the potential to make our world more inclusive.
The advent of highly responsive networks of information and knowledge and the rapid development of smart software, hardware and other more traditional channels of communication have presented a real opportunity to creatively solve existing deficiencies within educational systems around the world.
Falling costs of ICT have also made the use of ICT for education more economic. As costs fall even further the case for their use is set to become compelling in even the poorest of countries.
Only last week, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia announced an investment of $40 million in a national ICT network, which will develop access for tens of thousands of rural districts over the next 3 years. According to latest figures, about half of the Ethiopian population are unable to read or write. The Government is hoping that e-Schooling could change this.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister stated that:
"Not long ago many of us felt that we were too poor to seriously invest in information and communication technology…
We were convinced that we should invest every penny we have on securing the next meal for our people. We did not believe serious investment in ICT had anything to do with facing the challenges of poverty that kills. Now I think we know better.”
Against this backdrop, it is an honour to host an international discussion on the uses of ICT in education.
Given the focus of this event and Ireland’s tradition of investing in education, I am pleased that we are able to support the UN in hosting this Forum.
Ireland has benefited considerably from a focused investment in fusing technology with the power of human capital.
We seek to continue this by using ICTs to deliver a more effective education system, hence the development of our own domestic Broadband for Schools initiative.
We are also investing four million euro in the Task Force’s Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative.
This initiative is located in my Department, where I get the chance to meet the team and hear updates most weeks.
Indeed, I am delighted to see GeSCI co-host this Global Forum. Given that we are also discussing a multi-stakeholder approach here today, as an organisation GeSCI is witness to the importance of international partnerships.
It is only with the mutual support from the founding countries of Canada, Ireland, Switzerland and Sweden, the expertise and adeptness of the private sector partners and the insight of the local leaders that GeSCI will realize its mission. What one cannot do alone, we will all work to achieve together.
It is with innovative initiatives such as GeSCI and the leadership of the UN ICT Task Force that we will create positive change on a global level.
It will also take the involvement of the private, public and civil society sectors and from the local to the global if we are to tackle the issues that strike at the heart of our international community.
It is through such events as this Forum that truly effective dialogue on these important matters can be achieved. Let us start to nurture new relationships and strengthen existing ones. Ireland is ready to engage and partner with you. We look forward to working together to capture and share the potential of ICTs for our mutual development.
ENDS