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Education officials at Riga meeting stress importance of lifelong learning

Xinhua, April 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Asian and European education ministers at the 5th ASEM Education Ministers' Meeting (ASEMME5) in Riga on Tuesday stressed the importance of promoting lifelong learning and entrepreneurship in tackling joblessness, especially among young people.

Latvian Education and Science Minister Marite Seile said at a news conference on the second day of the ministerial meeting that a gap had developed in the European Union (EU) between the skills provided by higher education and the skills taught at basic educational institutions, which had resulted in high unemployment, especially among the bloc's young citizens.

The Latvian minister said that close cooperation among higher educational institutions, employers and schools would help finding solutions to the problem of joblessness.

"I believe that this meeting demonstrated the determination to tackle this problem very clearly. We realize this problem and are looking for concrete solutions. We hope that cooperation in Europe and Asia will facilitate this process and we will be able to learn from each other and find the best solutions," Seile said.

Education officials from ASEM countries named lifelong education as one of the possible solutions.

Seile pointed out that it was necessary not only to teach people how to be successful employees but also to create jobs and provide employment to others.

"This is the spirit we would like to promote," the Latvian minister said, underlining the importance of the ability to learn and acquire new skills at any age.

Malaysian Education and Science Minister Idris Jusoh called for a redefinition of the term 'education', saying that it was wrong to believe that school graduates must automatically become jobseekers.

Education should enable people to provide, rather than seek jobs, he said. "This is a matter of accessibility and lifelong learning. What you learned last year may have become irrelevant by now. This is an issue the ASEM can help tackle," the Malaysian minister said.

Education Minister Hwang Woo-Yea of South Korea underlined the role of sustainable and innovation-based education in Asia and Europe alike.

"Education strengthens dialogue and cooperation between the two continents," the minister said, noting that South Korea, which is due to host the 6th ASEMME5 meeting in 2017, intends to provide its contribution to enhancing cooperation educational cooperation between Asia and Europe.

The meeting of the Asian and European education ministers, focusing on the overreaching theme "ASEM Education Collaboration for Results", took place in Riga this Monday and Tuesday. Endit