Global crisis, a chance for education - Tunisian Minister

Global crisis, a chance for education - Tunisian Minister: "Global crisis, a chance for education - Tunisian Minister
News - Africa news

Tunisia - The world economic crisis, instead of being a handicap, may be an opportunity for students and the education sector to develop, the Tunisian minister of Education and Training, Hatem Ben-Salem, said on Wednesday in Tunis at the opening of the conference for Finance and Education ministers on the economic downturn and education.

In his opening speech at the conference meant to commit African Education and Finance ministers to have talks with their foreign partners on the options aiming at sustaining Africa's efforts in the domain of education and economic development, Mr Salem urged his peers from other countries not to consider the global crisis as a fatality, but as an opportunity.

Taking the case of Japan, he said that Tunisia was one of the first countries to have understood that the crisis was not a fatality but could be used on the other hand to develop the education sector by investing in Information Communica tion Technology (ICT).

'There is a way to better invest in education, thanks to ICT which the country has already invested in,” said the Tunisian Education minister who stressed that it is not only about the acquisition of equipment but mainly about how to exploit it and “set up a process so that it be a key for knowledge”.

“Today, thanks to this strategy, the Tunisian schools are being revived despite the global economic downturn,” he said.

Sources said that the Tunisian government invested more than 30% of its national budget in education and together with Denmark are the two countries that invest the most in the education sector.

The three-day conference, which opened on Wednesday is initiated by the Agency for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank, brings together ministers from about 30 sub-Saharan countries.

Tunis - 15/07/2009"