A bilateral meeting was held between the Minister of Education of Bangladesh and the Assistant Director-General for Education of UNESCO
On the margins of the 2nd Asia-Pacific Regional Education Minister’s Conference (APREMC II), the Assistant Director-General for Education of UNESCO, Ms Stefania Giannini, met the Hon’ble Minister of Education of Bangladesh, Dr. Dipu Moni, M.P. in Bangkok on 6 June 2022.
They congratulated each other on the 50th anniversary of official relations between the Government of Bangladesh and UNESCO in 2022. Bangladesh became a member of UNESCO on 27 October 1972. Since then, it has been playing a positive and constructive role in fulfilling UNESCO’s core mandates in the fields of Education, Culture, Communication and Information as well as Sciences. Recently the Minister of Education has been elected as a member of the Leadership Group to the SDG 4 – Education 2030 High-Level Steering Committee to represent Asia and the Pacific in setting regional and global priorities toward achieving SDG 4 by 2030.
They discussed the shared responsibilities of the international communities in ensuring inclusive, equitable quality education for forcibly displaced people, climate change displaced populations and migrants. It is of paramount importance to spotlight these issues and identify concrete actions at the APREMC II, the coming Pre-Summit of Transforming Education Summit and the Transforming Education Summit. They concurred with each other on the importance of education for ethnic minorities and refugees through the use of mother tongues as languages of instruction and training more teachers with appropriate language skills. The Minister stressed that education – SDG 4 is an enabler for achieving all SDGs. Other sectors have been immensely benefitting from the Education Sector. Cross-sectoral collaboration and coordination are essential for learning recovery and education transformation.
At the end of the meeting, the Minister has expressed strong interest in the ratification of the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education. 15 Member States have ratified the Global Convention since its adoption by all Member States at the 40th session of the UNESCO General Conference in 2019. By ratifying the Global Convention, countries commit to strengthening international cooperation in higher education, raising its quality at home and worldwide, and helping make academic mobility and the recognition of qualifications a reality for millions around the world.