college-magazine-2012

GLOBAL EDUCATION
Global education is about implementing the vision required to move to a model of
partnership between peoples, cultures and religions at micro and macro levels.
Transformative learning through global education involves a deep, structural shift in the
basic premises of thought, feelings and actions. It is an education for the mind as well as for
the heart. This implies a radical change towards inter connectedness and creates possibilities
for achieving more equality, social justice, understanding and cooperation amongst people.
The United Nations Secretary - General launched the Global Education First Initiative (GEFI)
in September 2012 to spur renewed efforts to reach global education goals. By rallying a
broad spectrum of world leaders and advocates, GEFI aims to raise the political profile of
education, inspire new partnerships and mobilize additional funding to deliver on the
promise of Education for all. In the words of the secretary general, when we put education
first, we can reduce poverty and hunger, end wasted potential and look forward to stronger
and better societies for all.
President Barack Obama states, The source of America's prosperity has never been merely
how ably we accumulate wealth, but how well we educate our people. This has never been
truer than it is today. As we all know, where our best job qualification is not what we do, but
what we know - education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity and success, it's a
prerequisite for success.
As a result of independence among countries, the world we live in has evolved into a
globalised system. Recent history unquestionably shows that the lives of the men and
women of this planet may be affected by events and processes thousands of kilometres
away. The positive consequences of globalization are the widening of people's horizons,
access to knowledge and the products of science & technology, multi culturalism and inter
cultural views.
Global education is a new approach, which aims at learners to understand world issues,
while empowering them with knowledge, skill, values and attitudes desirable for world
citizens to face global problems. In these terms, global education is a process of individual
and collective growth which allows transformation and self transformation. Basically it is a
social practice. It is also a permanent preparation for life, in which the acquisition of
St.John’s College -ii-
Magazine - 2012