GCC education policies prioritize respect for human dignity - Dr. Al-Esa

NEW DELHI, Sept 19 (KUNA) -- Kuwait Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr. Bader Hamad Al-Esa and the delegation accompanying him participated in the first day proceedings of the UNESCO International Conference on the Prevention of Violent Extremism through Education: Taking Action.
In statements to KUNA on the sidelines of the two-day gathering that kicked off on Monday, Dr. Al-Esa said that Kuwait is currently working with the World Bank to modernize the curricula and remove any possible elements that may breed extremism, violence or terrorism.
"Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states are following a policy of respecting human dignity and protecting human rights.
"This is what is thought in our schools to the children, but what they watch in the western media is contradicting the value system that the young generation is imbibing from the schools," he said.
Earlier, making an intervention during the discussions on the topic, the minister said that the issue of change in the existing educational methods and syllabus in the Middle Eastern countries as well as other conflict-hit areas should be handled with utmost care and vigilance. "This is because of the fact that the new generation students in the region are increasingly aware of the inherent contradictions as the existing curricula impart lessons on respecting the views of others amid increasing violent interventions in the region by the global powers. "They are witnessing human rights violations inside global powers and outside," he said. He called for putting an end to the violation of freedom and human rights in both our countries and their countries. The conference, co-organized by UNESCO and UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development, gathered dozens of education specialists, policymakers, experts, chief security officers, officials from intergovernmental organizations working in the field of prevention of violent extremism.
It deals with the poor security situation in many countries due to increasing violent extremism and explores ways of developing mechanism to prevent youth from falling in the extremist thoughts.
The Kuwait delegation to the gathering includes Mohammed Ismail Ibrahim Al-Rashid - first Technical Expert - Educational Capital, Nadia Jasim Eissa Al Wazzan - Observer of Programmes and Educational Agreements - UNESCO, Salah Dabsha Al Majidi - First Technical Expert and Shaouq Eissa Abdulah Al-Arfaj - Teacher - Anjifa Primary Boys. (end) atk.gb