Education for Peace, Education for Development

By Han Qide

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Education for Peace, Education for Development

By Han Qide

CPPCC Vice Chairman and CPAPD President

Your Excellency, Vice-President Li Yuanchao,

Your Excellency, Speaker Ibrahimi,

Your Excellency, Speaker Chowdhury

Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning!

It gives me great pleasure to attend the commemoration event of the International Day of Peace 2013 & China-South Asia Peace and Development Forum. On behalf of the organizer, the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD), I would like to extend the warmest welcome to all distinguished guests!

The theme of this year’s international day of peace is “Education for Peace”, which is highly relevant and reflects China’s consistent emphasis on education and the culture of peace over thousands of years. As early as 2300 years ago, the Book of Rites pointed out that “To build a country and govern a people, the most important thing is education.” Traditional Chinese peace cultures embodied in concepts like “peace is precious” have found their way into people’s hearts over the years and have shaped the mild character of the Chinese people who love peace and oppose war. The world we are living in today is basically stable, but regional conflicts and turmoil have never stopped. The root cause lies in backward or unbalanced development. Given the fundamental role of education in promoting development, countries should start with education to safeguard peace. Promoting education for development and peace has become the common aspiration of people around the world including China and South Asia.

Poverty is an important root cause for conflict and war. According to relevant UN statistics, between 2004 and 2009, the average death toll due to wars and terrorist incidents every year was 55,000. By the end of 2012 the number of refugees worldwide reached 45.2 million. The conflicts mainly happened in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, which also had the largest number of refugees. The Global Poverty Report of the World Bank shows that there are 1.2 billion people living in abject poverty worldwide, among which 414 million live in sub-Sahara Africa and over 500 million in South Asia. A survey with over 700 ordinary Afghans by Oxfam of UK found out that 70% of respondents believed that the cause of the civil war was not the Taliban but poverty and unemployment. To prevent conflicts and wars and to build a better world, the fact that there are only a small number of developed countries but vast number of poor and backward countries must be changed. It is an important task for governments and people everywhere to reduce poverty and narrow the South-North divide.

Education is the fundamental way out of poverty and backwardness. Poverty is closely related to backward education. According to relevant UN statistics, there are 800 million illiterate adult populations and that at least 72 million school age children have not been enrolled, mostly in sub-Sahara Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. Among them, around 400 million illiterate people are in the African continent, accounting for 60% of the African population. The top 10 countries in terms of illiteracy are all in Africa, which are also the most impoverished countries. High illiteracy rate and poor level of education can seriously affect the quality of the working population and constrain economic and social development. Education is a fundamental driving force for development. It can greatly elevate moral and cultural qualities of the people to create a skilled and efficient workforce and to nurture a number of high-caliber social management personnel. Education is also what is needed for rounded development of all. It helps to improve the cognitive level, satisfy the basic needs, enrich the emotional world and lay the foundation for personal happiness. Therefore, education is the basic requirement for justice and fair opportunities. It is a basic human right and the foundation for economic and social development. Education promotes development, which in turn, promotes peace. Education and peace are closely linked.

China’s rapid development is also a result of synchronous educational development. Since the founding of New China, and especially since reform and opening-up in 1978, China has realized rapid and sustained economic growth to become the second largest economy in the world and lifted over 200 million people out of poverty. A big contribution to all these achievements is education. China has given long-term priority to education and boasts the largest education system in the world, with in-campus students of 260 million. The free nine-year compulsory education has covered both the urban and rural area. All school-age children can get basic education, making the thousand-year old dream of “education for all” come true. Higher education has entered the era of popularization. The progress of education has greatly improved quality of the people. A young generation equipped with knowledge and skills has become the mainstay of the new labor force. Education has played an irreplaceable role for technological innovation, cultural prosperity, economic development, social progress and livelihood improvement. However, there is still room for improvement to train professionals urgently needed for economic and social development and to meet people’s expectations for getting ever better education. China still has a long way to go in terms of educational development.

The pursuit of peace and development calls for stronger international exchanges on education. Education is an important means for delivering social culture. Educational exchanges can promote mutual understanding and integration of different cultures. China is committed to international cooperation on education. It has established Confucius Institutes in over 100 countries and sent over 8000 Chinese language teachers and volunteers abroad every year, who have been welcomed by governments and different social sectors. China has also become the biggest source of overseas students. From 1978 to 2011 it has sent all-together 2.2451 million students abroad. Chinese overseas students have become a bond increasing understanding and friendship with people of other countries. At the same time, China has also become an important recipient of foreign students, with 7% of international students studying in China. South Asian students such as those from Nepal and Sri Lanka have become envoys promoting exchanges between the Chinese culture and South Asian cultures. The Chinese culture believes that “Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you”; Indian culture has values of “The Brahman and me are one” and of peaceful coexistence. The Buddhist culture advocates equality for all and calls for giving up evils for goodness. The Islamic culture is endowed with ideas of pursuing peace and tolerance. All these ideas are shining with the lights of loving life and pursuing peace. We call on developed countries to help poor countries to improve the educational and cultural level for the whole mankind and to promote common development. We believe that mutual learning and mutual enhancement of different cultures will vigorously promote peace and progress of mankind.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

An important purpose of CPAPD is to conduct peace education, since we are deeply aware of the fact that peace and education are mutually reinforcing. Since 1989, together with our partners, we have held in 24 consecutive years the“Week of International Science and Peace”, implanting in people’s hearts the concept of “using science to benefit mankind and filling the world with peace”. The CPAPD has conducted exchanges and cooperation of various forms with over 300 peace organizations in over 90 countries. I myself visited India in 2009 and felt the importance of peace and education for South Asia. On multilateral forums like NGO meetings of the UN, the CPAPD has also advocated world multi-polarization, respect for cultural diversity, peaceful settlement of international disputes, and the realization of a world free of nuclear weapons, etc., thus contributing our due part in building a peaceful and prosperous world.

Today, after experiencing untold vicissitudes, both China and South Asian countries have embarked on the road of national renewal, while holding beautiful dreams for the future. I believe that the Chinese dream and the dream of South Asian countries are interrelated. I sincerely hope that in the following high-level dialogue and the four sub-forums, all of you present will contribute ideas on promoting peace through education, promoting regional stability, carrying out practical cooperation and deepening political mutual trust. May we promote peaceful development and friendly cooperation between China and South Asia, safeguard lasting peace between us, facilitate mutually beneficial cooperation and contribute to common development!

Thank you.