European Ministers of Education committed to reduce cultural conflict

On June 5-6, more than 35 nations are gathered in Oslo on a conference for European ministers of Education. Twelve countries are represented by their minister. H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon saluted the conference during the opening ceremony.

 

The topics for discussion is the importance of education in the promotion of intercultural dialogue and respect.  

Norway's Minster of Education, Bård Vegar Solhjell, and the Slovenia's Minister of Education and Sport, Milan Zwer, are hosting the conference. 

– The role of education has revolutionary power, the power to emancipate from the slavery of ignorance. Only people with proper knowledge about the world have the ability rightly to claim their fundamental human rights. Fighting prejudice and misconception through intercultural dialogue is in my opinion the only way towards a society with equal rights and access for everybody, states Mr Solhjell.  

The goal of the conference is to provide a useful platform to discuss the role of education in promoting intercultural dialogue and respect. The participants will further on examine how the education sector  can contribute to a pluralistic and dynamic society with due respect for cultural, linguistic, ethnic and religious differences in Europe. A third goal is to contribute to the debate concerning the development of future objectives for European education policy cooperation beyond 2010. 

The French-Lebanese author Mr Amin Maalouf and Vice-President of the European Court for Human Rights, Christos Rozakis, are among the speakers along with EU Commissioner for Education, Jan Figel, and EU Commissioner for multilingualism, Leonard Orban. 

Professor and former Norwegian Minister of Education and Research, Gudmund Hernes, is charing the round-table discussions by the ministers. Topic for discussion are: 

• How can schools be enabled to promote tolerance and respect for the cultural diversity of our societies?
• How can education contribute to increased social mobility among the immigrant population?
• How can respect for the right to freedom of expression be balanced with the need to reduce cultural conflict.

Follow the link to read more about the Informal Confernece of European Ministers of Education