1st WCCES Symposium: Comparative Education for Global Citizenship, Peace and Harmony through Ubuntu

Comparative Education for Global Citizenship, Peace and Harmony through Ubuntu

Objectives

The broad goals of the WCCES (Statute 2.1) are:

• to advance education for international understanding in the interests of peace, intercultural co-operation, mutual respect among peoples and observance of human rights.
• to improve education systems so that the right of all to education may be more fully realized.

The theme of this first WCCES symposium responds to the above broad goals and it would be a privilege for its Executive Committee members and wider community of comparative education to actively contribute to its successful organization. The past few decades have been marked by increased globalization and fast-paced technological innovations that have accelerated the global connectivity and reduced the perceived and actual distance between the world populations. Never before in the history of human civilization have people had better opportunities of looking beyond their own villages, towns, cities, districts/counties, provinces/states and countries to identify with a view to satisfying their existence as quintessential citizens of our planet Earth. Paradoxically, while intermingling of cultures, economies and civilizations has brought about unprecedented synergies, challenges have also emerged simultaneously, including the sense of exclusion and disconnect. Education has played a major role in triggering and sustaining globalization. Comparative and international education looms large in ongoing processes and possibilities of addressing the prevailing issues. Papers with a particular focus on these issues are especially welcome.