DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
VIEW FROM THE ACTING SECRETARY- GENERAL AND
harming the interests of other countries. When people are well grounded in the fundamentals of citizenship, love for their country and culture, with a sense of dignity of labour, good character and moral sense of being, the answer would be very few indeed.
A good starting point in addressing the social-economic problems that may be holding many emerging and developing countries of the Commonwealth back is to ensure the design or redesign of their primary education curriculums to meet their future economic and social development needs.
The policymakers in these countries can scan around the Commonwealth to identify those nations that are steaming ahead in terms of political and economic stability and an unbreakable national sense of purpose and direction, and examine closely their primary educational objectives and how they are being implemented and funded. They can then make a conscious decision to learn from them. It is never too late: for as we know, a house that is not built on a solid foundation is bound to collapse sooner or later! While there is evidence in the literature of the relative impact
primary, secondary or tertiary education can have on a nation’s economic development, my view is that primary education is, perhaps, the most important of all, because it is the foundation upon which all else is built. Placing the role of primary education high on the future SDGs, especially for the marginalised, is essential for the future of the Commonwealth. A fundamental rethink is called for in those Commonwealth countries where there is the shared belief that the education system is not meeting their economic, social and political development
needs. This can be achieved through effective legislation and a renewed awareness of the important role of primary education in delivering a country’s sustainable economic development needs.
Reference
1 Cited in Aims and Values in Primary Education: England and Other Countries (2008), Shuayb, M. and O’Donnell, S., National Foundation for Education Research, University of Cambridge and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Research 1/2.
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Education, especially primary education, is vital to development
The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue One | 11
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