By Naomi Kabarungi
Growing up in a remote village within the small mountain state of Himachal Pradesh north of India, Asha Kanwar considers education the basis of all development. Being the first generation of an illiterate family to go to school, Asha says education has been a life-changing experience for her.
Presenting a paper at the Joined Up Policies to Develop Commonwealth Education workshop on Tuesday, 20 November 2007 during the Commonwealth People’s Forum, Professor Asha Singh Kanwar stresses that there is no difference between education on the one hand and development on the other; to achieve any of the Millennium Development Goals education is the bottom line.
Asha has had the opportunity to go through higher education with scholarships and international fellowships; one of these was from British Council for a Doctor of Philosophy programme at the University of Sussex which she completed in 1986.
Today, Professor Kanwar is the Vice President and Programme Director of the Commonwealth Of Learning.
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It is not surprising therefore that of the many issues that the Commonwealth People’s Forum is addressing, Asha’s biggest passion is education:
“For me it is something incomprehensible if I did not have an education.”
The best tye of education should empower the citizens with productive life skills not mere accumulation of papers, such require high costs through classrom projects, financed and carried out by highly motivated and inspired instructors with technical assistance.
GEORGE M.
ENTEBBE.
The need for education can not be stressed any further.
There is alot of debate on the direct relevance of the education here in developing countries.
Is it an education further subjecting us the dominating forces of our history; or one that liberates us to our potential and awakens us to a leading role within the global community?
The lot i learnt in school in nodoubt has helped me survive(yes survive) in this dynamic society and no doubt formal
Education like all other forms of socializations is a process that is constantly evolving.
It is now our duty to direct this evolution, what kind of education would the best suit our present challenges challenges beyond just survival.