The Secretary-General of the Organisation of Educational Cooperation (OEC), H.E. Manssour Bin Mussallam, met today with the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, H.E. Sahle-Work Zewde, at the Presidential Palace in Addis Abeba.
Expressing his appreciation to the Ethiopian President for the country’s notable contribution towards the creation of the OEC through its early participation in the development of Balanced and Inclusive Education (BIE), the Secretary-General reaffirmed OEC’s commitment to enhance cooperation with Ethiopia in areas of common interest.
The Ethiopian President commended, in turn, the Secretary-General for the OEC’s vision and emphasised the necessity of developing coherent and equitable education systems so as to ensure that they respond to the contextualized needs of communities, societies and countries across the Global South.
By the same token, the Secretary-General stressed his full agreement with the President on the necessity to contextualise our education systems to national priorities and local realities, reinforced through the exchange of best practices across countries of the Global South. He also raised the OEC’s focus on a systemic approach, requiring investments in other critical sectors of development – such as endogenous technology ecosystems – that have a positive impact on the education system itself.
In conclusion, the Secretary-General and the President discussed the Organisation’s Strategic Plan (2022-2029) as a framework for the implementation of contextual, balanced and inclusive education policies, to be made operational through the OEC’s Programme for 2022-2023.
