Education: the way ahead
Education: the way ahead
Education is one of Unesco's major concerns. For reasons of space, a single issue of the Unesco Courier would not have been sufficient to approach this vast subject, and consequently the Editors have decided to devote two issues, appearing at a twomonth interval, to an examination of some of the educational problems facing the modern world.
The present issuefocuses on the current outlook for education. In introductory texts, Mr. Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow, the Director-General of Unesco, and Mr. Sema Tanguiane, Assistant DirectorGeneralfor Education, chart some of the major trends which will be decisive for education in the coming years. The historical origins and evolution of these developments are retraced by Torsten Husén, while Hermann Rohrs evokes the thought and action of some of the educational thinkers who have shaped modern approaches to educational questions.
In spite of all the efforts that have been mobilized over the years, illiteracy remains one of the most serious social problems of our time, and, for the international community, a major challenge which Unesco is committed to tackle. In this issue articles on literacy teaching by Le Thanh Khôi and on education in rural areas by Hamidou Lailaba Maiga, assess what has been achieved so far in this sphere and analyse the conditions for future progress. Lastly, Michel Souchon shows how informatics and the mass media, if wisely used, can help educators at every level and in every country to attain the ambitious and legitimate objectives which are theirs.
Our August issue will be devoted to certain strategic aspects of educational policy. Articles will examine promising approaches to problems in such fields as lifelong education, science teaching, education provided in the Qur'anic schools, the education of women, the teaching of aesthetics, peace education, and the education of the handicapped.
We hope that ideas and information presented in these two issues of the Unesco Courier will signpost for our readers some ofthe ways in which education can beset on a more equitablefooting and foster a wider measure of understanding in the world today.