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

impressionné par la qualité de ses convictions et sa foi profonde et sincère en un monde meilleur. Il s’est mis
résolument aux côtés de ces damnés de la terre, dont Frantz Fanon a si bien décrit le sort. Monsieur Mayor, vous
ne nous quitterez jamais. Les nombreux pays sous-développés qui ont toujours placé leur espoir en vous vous
conserveront durablement leur estime. Beaucoup d’entre nous feront certainement appel à votre générosité et à
votre grande sagesse où que vous soyez. Que Dieu vous bénisse.
(The speaker continues in English)
8.4 At the same time we wish to welcome the incoming Director-General, Ambassador Matsuura, in whom
we place our hopes that he will lead UNESCO successfully into the third millennium. My country pledges full
support to the future path chosen by the new Director-General to achieve the lofty ideals of UNESCO.
8.5 Madam President, Mauritius has had a long and very close association with UNESCO for many years
and this has led to Education being considered as the number one priority in our development strategy. Free
primary and secondary education has prepared our 1.2 million population to respond successfully to the rigours
of life and the needs of a developing economy. Education has provided the trained people we require for the
development of our infrastructure, our agriculture, our industries, our tourism sector and our services sector. Our
literacy rate is above 95% and our per capita income about US $3,000. Access and equity in education are
safeguarded. However, our education system suffers from the pressure of extreme competition for access to star
secondary schools and places at the only university we have. An Action Plan is under way to reform our
education system, eliminate its weaknesses and prepare our children to face the next millennium with greater
confidence. The reforms provide for a child-centred nine-year period of compulsory schooling for each Mauritian
child, giving pride of place to the concept of multi-intelligence, increased access to tertiary education through the
construction of a new University of Technology, and positive discrimination to support the more needy children.
8.6 UNESCO’s fundamental purpose as enshrined in its founding charter is based on the general principle of
generosity and solidarity among nations. The Organization has to its credit significant contributions in the fields
of education, culture, science and communication, human rights and peace. It is unfortunate that there has always
been a tendency to decry its rare failures and not to celebrate the numerous achievements. There are problems of
poverty, violence and war, environmental decay, moral degradation and, more importantly, a new wind of
acquisitive greed and an undeclared but nonetheless conspicuous philosophy of self-seeking. Nowhere is this
more obvious than in the new WTO rules where, crudely, only the fittest will be allowed to survive. The
presumption of a level playing field is totally illusive because of the unbridgeable gulf between countries in terms
of their respective stock of human and technological capital. In this view, UNESCO faces a challenge that is
much greater than any it has ever had to face before. As a principal arm of the United Nations system, it behoves
this Organization to address the consequences for the poor countries of this tremendous change in the
international trade paradigm. The pressure will rise. UNESCO is at a crossroad. It cannot be expected to behave
as an international economic directorate. The question of whether there is to be a nominal zero growth budget or
a real zero growth budget is certainly an issue but is less important that some other issues which have yet to be
addressed. I am not suggesting that resource management is not an issue. What I am saying is that it should not
be the issue.
8.7 Of course, an organization in which expectations are more of an intellectual service nature may not
necessarily have to be judged on the classic organizational measure of top heaviness or otherwise. UNESCO is
an intellectual powerhouse and it is inevitable that the place of human resources in the overall budget be
significant. But perhaps there is a case for revamping the traditional approach to programme management so as to
optimize resources utilization. Instead of leaving it to member countries exclusively to submit their programmes,
the process could be reversed, with UNESCO acting as an international policy consultancy Organization, helping
member countries to identify their needs and guiding them in the satisfaction of those needs. Planned and focused
decentralization should be the obvious mechanism of down-to-earth empowerment, with recipient countries
actively involved.
8.8 All of us with responsibility for what I believe to be the determining force behind the transformation of
society - that is, education - know how difficult it is to bring about change in an area where entrenched views and
values and general conservatism prevail. There are four inherent assumptions underpinning the concept of
education for all: education must be compulsory; education must be universal; education must be of quality;
education must be relevant. We all know that we will not achieve much if we do not secure these four facets, and
yet we also know that there will always be factors, external and internal, both inside and outside the system,
competing with each other. Perhaps the challenge today is to find the magic combination of these four
components in the furtherance of the common objectives of education, namely, learning to be, learning to know,
learning to do, and learning to cooperate with others.
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