Prague, Sept 15 (CTK) – Good-quality education enables people not only to survive, but it is a path to a dignified life, citizenship and building of society, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) said in his speech at the Forum 2000 conference yesterday.
The conference is focused on education and democracy issues this year.
However, the achieved goals, set by the international community in this area, “were probably little ambitious” in view of the current developments, Sobotka said.
“Poverty as well as unaccessible health care and education are still reality in the 21st century. People cannot feel safe and satisfied under such conditions. Such conditions result in social unrest, wars and migration waves,” Sobotka said.
He recalled that the U.N. had pledged to secure at least basic education. In the past 15 years, the number of children who have never attended school (100 million) has halved in the world.
However, armed conflicts in the past years forced 60 million people to leave their homeland, and increased the number of people without any education, which would affect their future, Sobotka added.
He also said an equal access to education for all must be secured and obstacles given by religious and ideological reasons must be removed.
In this connection, he mentioned Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai, fighting for the girls’ right to education, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year and whom Taliban attempted to murder three years ago.
Sobotka also stressed the necessity to connect the education system with the labour market needs to prevent the unemployment of school graduates.
