Working Group on Education (WG-E)

Chaired by Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO

Background

The Broadband Commission for Digital Development was launched by Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of the ITU, and Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, in May 2010 in response to the call by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, to step up UN efforts to help accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Its main aim is to highlight the importance of broadband in helping boost achievement of the MDGs. It unites senior policy-makers and top executives from the telecommunication industry in a bid to extend the benefits of high-speed Internet to people around the world. To focus the work of this influential set of leaders, the Commission established eight Working Groups on various key thematic areas.

Objectives

The Working Group on Education (WG-E) aims to promote Education for All (EFA). It seeks to consider:

1. What are the bottlenecks in achieving EFA and how can the Broadband Commission address them?
2. How can innovative use of mobile devices and mobile broadband be harnessed for achieving the MDGs and EFA goals?
3. Is broadband-based distance education a cost-effective solution for reaching the unreached? And what are the criteria for successful distance education?
4. How can broadband connectivity contribute to national coordination and international cooperation on EFA through better information management, coordination and sharing, including development of Educational Management Information Systems (EMIS) and shared knowledge resources (e.g. Open Educational Resources and Open Access to scientific information)?
5. What role might broadband-enhanced social media and user generated content play in student-centred education?

Activities

WG-E held its inaugural meeting in Paris on 5 June 2011 to define the scope and purpose of its activities. Two main proposals were discussed and will be reviewed and refined at the next meeting of the WG:

• exploring the feasibility of establishing a Fund for mobile technologies for education,
• setting up a what works gateway to disseminate evidence-based knowledge and best practices on the use of broadband in education, with particular reference to low-income countries.

Outcomes

The WG-E will make a number of recommendations to promote Education for All (EFA), in particular by:

• promoting secondary education for marginalized girls and teacher training projects that could provide a template for creating and scaling up broadband applications for education;
• mobilizing dedicated resources to promote mobile learning;
• developing platforms to share best practices and sustainable business models in terms of content creation, connectivity, teacher training, maintenance and costs;
• exploring innovative funding schemes for broadband-based education;
• disseminating evidence on the benefits of broadband in education, with special attention to low income countries.

Membership

WG-E comprises a number of Commissioners and invited experts: