Education and the Commonwealth: The Gaberone meeting and after

Education is at the heart of the modern Commonwealth. The latest in the cycle of meetings of the education ministers of member states provided an opportunity to review the effectiveness of existing programmes, and to consider the options for new directions. The 13th Conference of Education Ministers, held in Gaborone, Botswana, was attended by delegates from 42 out of a possible 52 countries, with the Commonwealth's newest members, Cameroon and Mozambique, attending for the first time. The Conference adopted the theme of 'Education and Technology: Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century', but in addition discussed Commonwealth studies, the Commonwealth of Learning, student mobility, and Human rights education within the Commonwealth. As well as a Final Communique, the Ministers drafted a message to be presented to the Heads of Government Meeting in Edinburgh in October 1997. For the first time, a convention and exhibition, organized by the British Council and IDP Education Australia, ran in parallel with the conference.