Education Ministers and officials of eight South Asian countries have resolved to collaborate on increased use of information
technology and improving the quality of education.
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The second meeting of Education Ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) held here on Friday, was attended by representatives of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and chaired by Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani.
The Ministers issued a joint statement titled 'The New Delhi Declaration on Education.'
The priority areas of action decided upon include enhancing the learning and development readiness of pre-school age children, ensuring education for all, expanding skill development, facilitating mutual recognition of qualifications and mobility of students and teachers and expanding alternative ways of learning like open and distance education.
India's use of Information and Communication Technology in education, development and sharing of e-resources, connectivity, e-learning and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) was discussed by the Ministers.
Agencies also reported that Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairman of Pakistan's Higher Education Commission, proposed a SAARC education and research network for sharing information and communication between the member countries.
A technical meeting to finalise these plans has been tentatively scheduled for June 2015.
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