UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

(29.1) Ms Wei YU (China) (Translation from the Chinese):
Mr President, first of all, allow me to congratulate Ms Moserová on her election as President of this
session of the General Conference. I should also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the contribution
made by Mr Federico Mayor during his two terms as Director-General of the Organization.
(29.2) Mr President, this session is held at a time when this century is coming to an end and the next millennium
is drawing near, at a historic moment of great significance. Human society has achieved tremendous progress in the
twentieth century now drawing to an end, during which science and technology have advanced with each passing
day, social productivity has developed at an unprecedented rate, the level of human civilization has increased
constantly and standards of living have also greatly improved. However, human society has also been overwhelmed
by disasters in this century. Incessant wars, particularly the two world wars, have inflicted tremendous destruction
on human society, and the deterioration of the environment has endangered the survival and development of human
beings. In the last 50 years of the twentieth century China, an ancient country with a 5,000-year history of
civilization and in modern times a backward country humiliated by imperialist powers, has witnessed tremendous,
ground-breaking changes. People of all nationalities in China, who have just celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of
the founding of the New China and who are greeting with great confidence the return of Macao, are making
unremitting efforts to bring a basically prosperous country into the twenty-first century and work for the great
renaissance and reunification of the Chinese nation.
(29.3) At the turn of the century, peace and development have still not become the major concerns. The world is
moving towards multi-polarization, the Cold War mentality continues to exist, and hegemony and power politics
are developing in a new form. The world is far from tranquil, and people all over the world share a common
aspiration and desire to maintain peace, seek stability and promote development.
(29.4) As the largest developing country in the world, New China has scored brilliant and splendid successes in
education over the last 50 years. The Chinese Government gave top priority to basically eliminating illiteracy
among young adults and making nine-year compulsory education universal in its reform and development of
education. By the end of 1998, the adult illiteracy rate had dropped to 14.5% from 80% in 1949, and the system of
nine-year compulsory education has basically been implemented in the regions inhabited by more than 73% of the
total population of the country. The number of students attending various levels of education nationwide amounted
to 320 million, which was 12 times the figure for 1949. China’s achievements in education show that we are
confident of fulfilling as scheduled the set task of “basically making nine-year compulsory education universal and
basically eliminating illiteracy among young adults” by the year 2000. If this job is well done, it will be a
contribution made by China, a country with one fifth of the world’s population, to the realization of the goal of
EFA 2000 worldwide. Looking into the new century, we still have an arduous task before us, as we have a long
way to go to eliminate illiteracy and make compulsory education universal in China. We are pleased to see that in
the major programmes of UNESCO’s Draft Programme and Budget for 2000-2001, top priority is given to basic
education and the elimination of illiteracy among young people and adults in the least developed countries, Africa
and the E-9 countries.
(29.5) The world’s history of development in the twentieth century, particularly since the Second World War,
has proved that scientific progress and the development of education are the driving force behind social and
economic progress. The famous principle that “science and technology are the primary productivity” as was
proposed by Mr Deng Xiaoping, has laid a solid theoretic foundation for China to formulate the national
development strategy of “sustainable development” and “revitalizing the country through science and education”.
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