Mr. President,
Allow me to start by congratulating you on your election as the President of the 33rd UNESCO General Conference. On behalf of the Kenyan Delegation and on my own behalf, please accept our best wishes for a successful conference. We have full confidence that through your exemplary leadership, the business of the conference will be effectively discharged.
I wish to commend Mr. Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO for having steered critical reforms that have streamlined and enhanced service delivery. Kenya also congratulates you for being nominated for a second term of office, and we assure you of our continued support. My delegation supports the proposals in the Draft Programme and Budget presented by the Director General. The request by the Director General to increase the organization’s budget also has our support, given the need and the urgency with which development issues have to be addressed. Mr. President,
Education is an inalienable human right, which empowers the individual to effectively exercise civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. As a first step towards achieving UPE, Kenya implemented the Free Primary Education (FPE) Programme in January 2003. To ensure transparency, accountability and ownership, we adopted a participatory approach involving the private sector, communities and the civil society. The initiative which is mainly funded from public resources with support from development partners and other stakeholders has greatly enhanced access, retention and equity. The enrolment increased from 5.9 million in 2002 to 7.5 million in 2005. The current GER is 104.8 % and NER stands at 84.5%. This progress has put Kenya on track to achieve MDG and EFA goals. Mr. President,
To sustain this growth the government has increased its budgetary allocation for education to about 7% of our GDP. Other significant achievements include increased enrolments in ECD; near gender parity at both primary and secondary level; a fully trained teaching force at both primary and secondary levels and increased enrolments at university level. To safeguard quality, we have increased provision of learning resources, rationalized the curriculum and restructured the ministry.
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Despite the above achievements, the Sector still faces challenges in terms of retention, transition, regional and gender disparities, quality, relevance and inadequate infrastructure. The situation is aggravated by high levels of poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. To address these challenges, the Government has embarked on farreaching reforms in the sector. These have been realized through a National Conference on Education and Training held in November 2003, which provided key recommendations and a direction for Kenya’s education for the 21st Century. Through the Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 on education, training and research, we prepared the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme (KESSP) (2005-2010) through a consultative process using the Sector Wide Approach to Planning (SWAP). The focus of KESSP is to prioritize the budget to target specific areas for implementation of the policies as stipulated in the Sessional Paper. Mr. President,
The global economy which increasingly is becoming knowledge-based requires application of science, technology and innovation. We therefore call for support of activities under the natural sciences programme. In particular, water is a high priority resource for sub-Saharan Africa and we call upon UNESCO to support these countries’ efforts in provision of water, health and agriculture management and conservation programmes. Mr. President,
Catastrophic phenomena such as Asian Tsunami and hurricane Katrina underscore the urgency to put in place effective systems for disaster management. We therefore, welcome the UNESCO initiative to undertake national assessment missions to various countries including Kenya to evaluate the available resources. This will inform stakeholders on the requirements for the establishment and operation of an early tsunami warning and mitigation system. Kenya has an elaborate infrastructure for tracking such phenomena and would be willing to offer these facilities for the establishment of a Regional Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation centre. Mr. President,
The creation and strengthening of knowledge societies can only be realised through sustained development of basic sciences and research. We endorse the international Basic Sciences Programme (IBSP) that was launched by UNESCO and wish to participate fully in its activities. It is our expectation that this programme will greatly enhance the teaching of basic sciences in the developing countries, through mobilization of financial resources towards the establishment of Centres of Excellence in African Universities. Mr. President,
We believe that promotion and protection of human rights, particularly women’s rights, democratization, promotion of peace and youth activities are central to sustainable and balanced development. We support the proposed programmes and activities within the social and human sciences. We are happy to note that the focus of this programme which deals with the ethics of science and technology has received increased resources. It is also acknowledged that culture is the mainspring of development. In this respect, Kenya endeavours to promote cultural diversity and inter-cultural dialogue, as well as safeguarding cultural heritage for sustainable development. As part of its international obligation, Kenya has made progress towards the ratification of the 2003 Convention on Intangible Heritage. In addition, culture is enshrined in the current constitution.
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Mr. President,
Kenya continues to promote freedom of expression and information and has one of the most vibrant and free media in Africa. In this regard, there is no doubt that ICT has become one of the most dynamic catalysts for knowledge, employment creation and increasing human capacity for self development and advancement. Kenya is putting in place an ICT policy that will inform all the activities of the sector. We are also enhancing ICT infrastructure in all our learning institutions. The expansion in the sector is, however, hampered by the huge investment requirements on ICT infrastructure, connectivity and software. We therefore support UNESCO’s proposal of ensuring that ICT is a cross cutting theme and a tool for socio - economic development. We also hope that the developed countries will support mechanisms to facilitate the utilisation of ICT in Developing Countries to reduce the digital divide. Mr. President,
In conclusion, the 21st Century with its immense progress in science and information technology, has the means and the capacity to end the misery of a majority of world’s people, who still live in extreme poverty. We believe that debt relief and fair trading practices should be implemented. We also believe that the Blair Commission Report on Africa is a step in the right direction and should be seriously considered. Prosperity, peace and solidarity for all the citizens of the world have been UNESCO’s clarion call and endeavour. It is an endeavour that will always have Kenya’s support and commitment. I thank you all for your attention.
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