I was going to write about Educational Technology, as Bett (the world’s leading educational technology event) is happening in London at the end of the month. I also considered writing about the Education World Forum, which is linked to Bett and provides an opportunity for Ministers of Education from around the world share ideas and best practice knowledge.
However, yesterday’s International Conference The Untold Story: The Kurdish Genocide in Iraq, was a stark reminder of why the creation of a robust national and international educational frame-work, Education for All, remains a political imperative. Events that support these aims (such as Bett) are therefore not just self-important talking shops, but they provide an inestimable service to the international community by exploring what education really means. So rather than just writing about Bett or the EWF as events, I want to contexualise them.
“It was a beautiful evening, much like any other. The air was still and warm and farmers, after a long hard day, were taking their livestock home. We spotted Russian bombers flying overhead and then dropping a couple of bombs. The odd thing was, there were no major explosions. 15 minutes later though we all smelt it, a smell that didn’t quite fit in, that we didn’t recognise. It was the smell of death”.
Dr Zryan Abdel Yones, Health Adviser to President Barzani, former Health Minister, Kurdistan Regional Government, remembers the first chemical attack in the Anfal genocide operation.
188,000 dead, over 5000 villages destroyed, and an area almost the size of Scotland poisoned. The Untold Story conference was staged to enable people to share in the memories of this atrocity. However, the aim was also to use the memories towards building a future in the region – tempered, but not distorted by the past. Speakers included Dr Bernard Kouchner, Co-Founder of Médecins Sans Frontières, international diplomats such as Peter Gailbraith, as well as actual survivors and a host of internationally known journalists and politicians. All gave first person witness accounts from a variety of perspectives.
As UK-based charity, the Holocaust Educational Trust has recognised storytelling and memories, linked to physical reminders – ‘hard evidence’ can ensure that future generations are able to learn from the past, but are not defined by it. Therefore, if one is to take this concept a step further, an educational system that is able to reflect the cultural history of a people, whist embracing technology and innovation, is able to create an empowered people able to respond to their own and their entire nation’s economic needs. As history has proven, a society such as this will focus on a greater good because there is no need to look anywhere else; thus rendering sectarianism, nationalism and chauvinism – the key causes of such atrocities – impotent.
What struck me yesterday was the strength of the images and the storytelling. As narrative histories are the bedrock of all civilisations, we are now in a situation to link the old generation of storytellers to a new one. No longer are stories limited to being passed down verbally – in our age of technology, the internet allows stories to be shared, shaped and used. However, the storytellers – men, women and children of the past, fathers, grandmothers and politicians of the future – need to have the confidence to believe they will be heard and need to have the tools to make themselves heard.
In what I hope is a neat conclusion, this comes back to the need to drive Educational for All with relevant, scalable technology and communicational tools at the heart of a new kind of approach to learning.
Quite simply, a nation that is educated might be divided, but it has the tools to mitigate those divisions. A nation that has the confidence to allow different voices to be heard has the ability to make the most of those voices to create a new story of its very own… a story that empowers its future, by remembering its past in a shared present.
… And just in case you’re interested: Bett 2013; Jan 30th – February 2nd, London (stand F300)
Madeleine White is Head of Strategic Partnerships for Whizz Education. A former teacher and mother of, 3 she is passionate about education, communication and CSR and has written extensively around her experiences.
Since starting in 2004, Whizz Education’s mission has been to raise standards in Maths. Maths-Whizz is used by thousands of 5-13 year olds in 8 countries, with major growth coming from the USA, the Middle East and Russia. By mid-2013, Maths-Whizz is expected to have launched and rolled out into 10 markets. To support this model of sustained, positive growth, Maths-Whizz is supported by Whizz Education offices in London, Seattle and Dubai. Additional support is provided through authorised international partners. Whizz Education is looking forward to other international market entries in 2013 and always welcomes strong partner approaches to support further international expansion.
