14/10/2010 President
“In times of crisis, many governments are tempted to cut education budgets. However, this is a false saving, one which will be paid for dearly in the future," said PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu, speaking today in Moscow at the opening of an international symposium on Education in Europe – for harmonious development of students.
"For this reason, the Assembly has called for education policies to be developed to face these challenges and invited the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to strengthen education in the organisation's work programme. Only recently, the Assembly reiterated that education should be used as the driving force for new social and economic structures in today’s world of rapid change, increasing globalisation and complex economic, societal and cultural relations,” he said.
He recalled that education, and particularly history teaching, can contribute to greater understanding, tolerance and confidence between individuals and between the peoples of Europe; it can help to develop notions of intercultural understanding and dialogue or it can become a force for division, violence and intolerance.
“Education is a fundamental right under Article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. It is a necessary requirement for the development of every individual and the backbone of any civilised human society. In 2010, 60 years later, those principles are as valid and important as they were at the time of the signature of the Human Rights Convention,” the President recalled.
“The Parliamentary Assembly has always recognised the major role that education plays in modern societies. It has been dealing with education policies since its creation in 1949, when it called for a meeting of education ministers to produce a comparative study of teaching programmes in different countries in order to make the best features of each available to all. European integration has progressed enormously over the last 60 years, but it remains the sovereign power of national legislators in Europe to determine educational policies and laws, as confirmed by last year’s Lisbon Treaty on the European Union. The harmonising role of the Council of Europe is therefore of the utmost importance," he continued.
One of the most important contributions to the work of the Assembly on the matter of education is the report on “Education for balanced development in school” by Anatoliy Korobeynikov, one of the moving forces behind the organisation of the conference, the President stressed. “Having substantially contributed to the work of the Assembly, Mr Korobeynikov is now in a position to bring back to his country the added value of the principles of the Council of Europe,” the President concluded.
On the occasion of the opening of the International Symposium, Mr Çavusoglu met with the Chairman of Russia's Federation Council, Sergey Mironov.