Conference Recommendations from the Report of Meeting of Ministers Adopted on Friday 27

CONFERENCE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE REPORT OF MEETING OF MINISTERS ADOPTED ON FRIDAY 27 APRIL, 2012.

Compiled by Limbani Eliya Nsapato, ANCEFA Policy and Advocacy Manager, Email: : Website: Mobile: +260 9775 11250.

At the conclusion of the Fifth Ordinary Session of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMEDAF V) in Abuja, Nigeria on Friday, 27th April, 2012, the following recommendations were approved, and were to be considered by the July 2012 Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, as follows:

We, the Ministers of Education of the African Union:

1. Call upon the AUC in collaboration with RECs to oversee the implementation of the recommendations of the midterm evaluation of the Second Education Decade (attached), to ensure acceleration of achievement of agreed goals.
2. Call upon RECs and Member States to identify champions and institutions that have demonstrated excellence in specific areas of the plan of Action, so that they provide exemplars, promote the implementation of the POA and increase its visibility.
3. Urge Member States and RECs to ensure that they attend COMEDAF meetings and be more diligent in providing education monitoring reports to the Observatory.
4. Call on Member States to establish a seed fund for all AUC education and training programmes such as Mwalimu Nyerere Scholarship Scheme, Pan African University, TVET centres, Teacher Development, Youth Empowerment.
5. Invite AUC, RECs and Member States to promote and strengthen Public Private Partnerships in Africa for Education and entrepreneurship, especially in the area of TVET.
6. Call upon RECs and Member States to ensure that applications of students for 2012 for the Pan African University are disseminated to all stakeholders.
7. Request again RECs to strengthen their education desks and strive to attend COMEDAF and other education meetings and send regular reports to the Commission.
8. Call upon RECs and Member States to embrace multi-sectoral provision of human resources in every sector. These should release more resources for this sector.
9. Call upon Civil Society Organizations to promote, publicize and implement the Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education for Africa.
10. Request the AUC to set up two Committees on Higher Education and TEVET including formal and non formal education; and request the committees and PACTED to report to the next COMEDAF Bureau meeting.
11. Request the Government of Libya to reconsider its withdrawal of funding to the Pedagogical Use of GeneralHistory of Africa Project.
12. Endorse the Recommendations of PACTEC II and urge their implementations.

The following recommendations were added during plenary, before adoption:

1. Request governments of the Member States to set up a fund and contribute to financing of the Project on Pedagogical Use of General History of Africa.
2. Call upon AU Members States, RECs, CSOs and partners to initiate broad based consultations at all levels to define the post 2015 MDG agenda.
3. Call upon Member States and RECs to prioritize Adult Literacy, ECCE, and Non Formal Education.

Notes:

1. 28 out of 54 African Union Member States participated representing, 51.8%. 20 Countries were represented by Ministers and these were: Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 8 countries were represented by senior officials. These were: Benin, Djibouti, Egypt, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and Senegal.

Civil Society representatives included delegates from Africa Network Campaign on Education for All (ANCEFA), a 35 member education campaign network, Educational International, Plan International, PEN International, Civil Society Action Coalition for Education for All (CASECFA) from Nigeria, and Pan African Teachers Centre (PATC).

1. Recommendations 5,8,9,14 and 15 (5 or 30% of the recommendations) were contributed by CSOs, either as part of recommendations arising from the CSO roundtable held on 25 April, or direct interventions in plenary. This was the first time COMEDAF V had witnessed strong participation and lobbying by CSOs.
2. Abbreviations

AUC- Stand for the African Union Commission, the Secretariat of the African Union.

PACTED- Stands for Pan African Conference on Teacher Education

POA-Stands for Plan of Action. (for the African Union Second Decade of Education for Africa-2006-2015).

RECs- Stands for Regional Economic Communities, these include, SADC, ECOWAS, COMESA, ECAS etc.

TVET- Stands for Technical and Vocational Education and Training.

1