RI seeks world commitment to education<\/p>\n
By Rikza Abdullah<\/p>\n
COPENHAGEN (JP): President Soeharto urged other world leaders
\nyesterday to throw their weight behind the \"education for all\"
\nconcept as one way of improving the welfare and prosperity of
\nmankind.<\/p>\n
\"I am inviting all parties to cooperate as closely as possible
\nto reach a consensus and to make a commitments to providing
\neducation for all -- a basic prerequisite for the advancement,
\nwelfare and prosperity of human beings -- through development,\"
\nhe said at an informal summit meeting on education.<\/p>\n
The meeting, held at the Bella Center where a United Nations
\nconference on social development is underway, was attended by
\nheads of state of nine of the most populous developing countries,
\nincluding Indonesia, India, China, Egypt, Mexico, Brazil,
\nPakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The meeting was held on the eve of the opening of the two-day
\nsummit of the World Conference on Social Development, which will
\nbe opened by UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali today.<\/p>\n
Soeharto said the education meeting was expected to encourage
\nall developing countries to follow the steps set out in the New
\nDelhi Declaration on Education for All, which the nine countries
\nsigned at their first meeting in the Indian capital in December
\n1993.<\/p>\n
\"In this respect, Indonesia will be glad to organize a
\nministerial meeting of the nine countries in September 1995 in
\nBali,\" Soeharto said.<\/p>\n
The President said that last year Indonesia introduced the
\nnine-year compulsory education program, for children aged between
\nsix and 15 years old. This was an extension of the successful
\nsix-year compulsory education program launched in 1984.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government is encouraging the participation of
\nthe private sector in education development, he said, stressing
\nthat \"education is the joint responsibility of government,
\ncommunity and family.\"<\/p>\n
Yesterday's meeting was organized by the United Nations
\nEducation, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in
\ncooperation with other UN agencies. Indian Prime Minister
\nNarasimha Rao was the keynote speaker while the other eight
\nleaders were given two minutes each to deliver their addresses.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Soeharto yesterday canceled a number of meetings he
\nhad lined up with other leaders attending the Copenhagen summit
\nbecause many of them had not yet arrived in the Danish capital.<\/p>\n
The meetings with Philippine President Fidel Ramos, Polish
\nPresident Lech Walesa and Madagascar Prime Minister Francique
\nRavoy at Hotel D'Angleterre, where Soeharto is staying, had to be
\ndropped. They were originally scheduled to take place yesterday.<\/p>\n
By the afternoon, the president's protocols had also canceled
\nmeetings with Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia and
\nUkraine President Kuchma which had originally been scheduled for
\nthis evening.<\/p>\n
Another meeting planned with Algerian President Liamine
\nZerroual was rescheduled for today.<\/p>\n
Soeharto did receive a courtesy call from Ave Sven Bruun, a
\nleader of the Danish cooperative movement, on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Bruun, who is of Dutch descent, presented Soeharto with
\nfour books on Dutch parliamentary debates about the Netherlands'
\nEast Indies, as Indonesia was called when it was a Dutch colony,
\nduring the period 1849-1954.<\/p>\n
Minister\/State Secretary Moerdiono told reporters that the
\ngovernment would keep the books, jointly entitled Parlementaire
\nRedevoeringen over Koloniale Belangen, which were compiled by
\nW.R. Van Hoevell, in the National Archives.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Ambassador to Denmark Ani Subijartani Santhoso, who
\naccompanied Mrs Bruuns in the meeting with Soeharto, said the
\nbooks contained speeches by parliamentarians defending the rights
\nof Indonesians under Dutch rule.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Bruun's grandfather worked in Indonesia as a priest but
\nthe Dutch government ordered him to return to the Netherlands
\nafter learning that he was promoting Indonesians' interests. \"The
\ngrandfather joined the Dutch parliament after returning from
\nIndonesia and supported Indonesian interests in various
\nparliamentary debates,\" she said.<\/p>\n
First Lady Tien Soeharto, who is accompanying the President on
\nhis four-day Danish working visit, attended a dinner hosted by
\nthe wife of United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-
\nGhali at Copenhagen's Sheraton Hotel yesterday.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-seeks-world-commitment-to-education-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}