On A Global Mission

Published in Bangkok 's The Nation 1997

 

In an ever-changing world we are in grave danger of losing our identity, writes Tamarind Jova, but Victor Ordonez feels that education will be important in redeeming the situation.

 

A s the tide of globalization sweeps across the world, technology is reducing the boundaries between nations. But, according to Victor Ordonez, director of Unesco's Principal regional Office for Asia and the Pacific ( Bangkok ), the danger is the people begin to lose their identity.

"Today people must walk the tight rope between internationalization and making the attempt to preserve their identities," Ordonez told The Nation recently.

"Thai society, he noted, is exceptional in that it is open, readily accepting outside influences without being overwhelmed by then will still managing to maintain its cultural identity.

For comparison purposes, he cited the Philippines , which he said has been so open it is now at risk of losing its own culture. "Many children in Manila do not know the national language although Tagalog is still widely spoken today."

He noted that many of the people he deals with in Thailand are every "international" [in outlook], having been educated abroad, and yet they are still very Thai.

"You cannot say this of an African living in Paris , for instance; while he may speak French with an African accent, he thinks like a French person."

Ordonez went to a cite a report entitled "Learning: The Treasure Within; ( Paris , 1996)", a publication of the International Commission Of Education for the Twenty First Century (chaired by European Commission president Jacques Delors), which pinpoints the need to revise education systems around the world.

The report lays out guidelines for balancing the tensions that can arise in a global society, namely: internationalism versus community identities; industrialized modernity versus local cultures; and individual development versus social cohesion.

 

I t also lays the groundwork for a new approach to learning: Learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together.

"Five hundred years from now, this may be remembered as the generation which created Microsoft and other sophisticated technology. But it may also be remembered as the generation which failed to teach people how to live together.

In the world of Archibald Macleish, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (1933; Conquistador) who was the US representative at the founding of Unesco in 1946, cited in the preamble to Unesco's protocol document, "War is made in the mind of men". Unesco's main task, Ordonez explained, is to build peace in the minds of people, and one of the ways this is done is through an association of ministers of education from around the world which meets every year to discuss identity priorities and discuss problems.

Ordonez defines education as, Empowerment - enabling individuals to do things they weren't able to do before. If you can't do something, you have to learn [how to do] it, whether it's a child who wants to play video games or a member of parliament trying to understand a budget proposal.

"More fundamentally, when a villager is trying to grow a crop, he should [first] learn when to use fertilizers and how much water is needed. Education means opening the door for him or her. Literacy gives him a new set of eyes and ears [with which] to reach out to the world."

According to Ordonez, the major challenges in education for Asia are firstly, to reach out and provided a basic education to the continent's 600 million illiterate people (of whom two thirds are girls and women); to those living in remote areas, to street and working children, those with special needs, refugees, migrants and ethic minorities.

"For Thailand it means reaching out to the six per cent of her population who are illiterate. This figure includes the hill tribe people and some Thai Muslims living in the South whose [mother tongue] is not Thai."

"Similarly, for the Philippine, it means reaching out to the handicapped and to special groups like those living on remote islands. For Bangladesh [which shares with Afghanistan , the lowest literacy rate in Asia ], there are vast numbers of people in the countryside whom we have not reached yet."

The second challenges, he explained, is to assure quality and relevance in basic education; that is, paying attention to those already reached and making sure the education they get suits their needs.

This he pointed out, means making sure that teachers are qualified and well suited to the special groups (both those already attending school and those who have not yet had a chance to do so); ensuring that curricula are "efficient"; that appropriate textbooks and learning materials are made available; and that learning achievements are properly evaluated.

O ther factors include making sure that condition at school - facilities, sanitation, health and nutrition - are conducive for parents and the community at large.

"For post-basic education [secondary/technical school and university] the major challenges is to reshape the curriculum for the 21 st century, points which are noted in the Delors Report.

"If you go into the bank or a company you'll notice that changes are constantly being made to meet the new demands. If they don's respond to changing needs, they'll lose their business. But if you go into a school or university, you may find that things haven's changed much within the past 20 years or so. Being openly self-contained, learning institutes have not prepared students for the demands of the 21 st century."

The Delors report propose that institutes of education respond to the changing needs of the public by promoting lifelong learning. "Instead of the traditional routine of

Of study, work and rest, global societies should approach education like a supermarkets of knowledge," Ordonez said.

"So if you run out of it [know-how, skills], you should be able to go back the supermarket' for more. This is how a country upgrades its labour force; if it wants to continue growing, that is,"

The Republic of Korea did this 25 to 30 years ago, he noted The South Korea government upgraded the skills of its national labour force by increasing the number of universities fro, less than 100 to about 400 and by expanding the vocational and technical education system.

Ordonez claims that Hong Kong's labour force is more productive than Thailand 's because workers these are generally better educated. He gave as an example, the situation on factors assembly lines where the more highly educated Hong Kong workers exhibit a greater sense of discipline and responsibility than their Thai counterparts who have, on average, only had six years of education.

"This explains why Thailand 's gross national product is far below Malaysia 's and many lower than Singapore 's he said.

"When I think about Thailand , I think of the word 'energy' because this is the place of the move, although not always in the right direction. Actually it's now Thailand 's turn to upgrade her labour force and let others do the low-graded works."

 

• Victor Ordonez is himself a good example of a multiple career person who is on a mission of lifelong learning. He has worked at Unesco's regional office is Bangkok since 1995. He is responsible for coordinating the efforts of the Bangkok office in the fields of education, culture, communications and social science.

He previously served as a deputy minister and undersecretary in the Philippines ' Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, and worked in several other key government positions in that country. Other posts he has held include academic dean, planning director, graduate school dean, college president and broad chairman of various Filipino academic institutions. He has lectured at the University of California , Los Angeles and was involved for a time in the Hollywood film industry.