(1) Background
Education in all its forms plays an indispensable role in addressing the critical challenges of sustainable development.
Higher education, in particular, has a catalyst role for sustainable development and the building of a Learning Society. It has a special responsibility to conduct the scholarship and scientific research necessary to generate the new knowledge needed and train the leaders and teachers of tomorrow, as well as communicate this knowledge to decision-makers and the public-at-large.
It has a vital role to play in shaping the way in which future generations learn to cope with the complexities of sustainable development. Universities and higher education institutions educate highly qualified graduates and responsible citizens able to meet the needs of all sectors of human activity.
(2) Objectives
Education is a critical sector whose performance directly affects and even determines the quality and magnitude of development in IDB member countries. It is the most important means we have at our disposal to develop human resources, impart appropriate skills, knowledge and attitudes. Education forms the basis for developing innovation, science and technology in order to harness our resources, industrialise, and participate in the global knowledge economy and for the Islamic world to take its rightful place in the global community.
Thus, the main objective of the proposed IDB education observatory for sustainable development is to help education leaders, decisions-makers and professional in IDB member countries to establish sustainable education system.
(3) Proposed activities
An educated citizenry is vital to implementing informed and sustainable development. In fact, a national sustainability plan can be enhanced or limited by the level of education attained by the nation's citizens.
Nations with high illiteracy rates and unskilled workforces have fewer development options. For the most part, these nations are forced to buy energy and manufactured goods on the international market with hard currency. To acquire hard currency, these countries need international trade; usually this leads to exploitation of natural resources or conversion of lands from self-sufficient family-based farming to cash-crop agriculture. An educated workforce is key to moving beyond an extractive and agricultural economy.
To take care of education in IDB member countries and provide help for education experts and policy makers, the observatory will set up a website that will carry out the following activities:
(1) Monitoring science education development in IDB member countries
(2) Establishing a database for science education strategies in IDB member countries.
(3) Setting up science education information center that will contain reports and documents dealing with education development strategies
(4) Setting up a database for science education experts in IDB member countries
(5) Establishing of a network of top-class science education institutions in IDB member countries.
(6) Promote cooperation between science education centers of excellence in and out of Islamic world.
(7) Producing a monthly bulletin to be called (education for sustainable development)
