Conference of European Ministers of Education: Opening speech

Ministers
Excellencies
Ladies and gentlemen

Welcome to Norway.

The American philosopher Kwame Anthony Appia writes in his book “Cosmopolitanism”:

“In order to build globally integrated, open societies for the 21st century, we need to reinforce the constructive dialogue between peoples and cultures based on the belief that global diversity is a precious asset. We need to enhance the recognition that tolerance of those who are different is a hallmark of civilisation.”

Education is a key factor in creating sustainable societies. Our children and grandchildren will form the societies of tomorrow. Our responsibility today is to create a platform for them to build on through knowledge and sound values.

Over the last two years I have visited high schools all around Norway. I have met with approximentely 10 000 pupils to discuss how to meet the global challenges of today.

I have been impressed by their engagement, their sincere interest in poverty alleviation, human rights - and by their natural way of relating to each other across cultures.

A Norwegian girl told me she had moved to Oslo from the northern part of Norway and now attended a school with a majority of pupils with family heritance from outside the west. She told me how she as an ethnic Norwegian had experienced representing a minority in her own class – and how she had adapted to a small, but concentrated multicultural environment.

This made something very clear to me: Children and youth share a universal advantage: Their unique ability to connect across individual differences and cultural borders. As adults we have a lot to learn from this ability – which is also an important resource for any society.

The challenges we face in Norway may look minor compared to many other parts of the world. But also Norwegians are constantly working on redefining our identity: Who is a Norwegian in the year 2008? Today, we have Norwegians with roots from Pakistan, Sweden, Iraq, Denmark, Poland, Vietnam, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Somalia and Iran just to mention a few examples. We have a population of 4, 7 million. 410 000 of them are immigrants – of which 50 percent come from non-western countries. Together we shall build the future of Norway in the years to come.

A couple of weeks ago I attended a lecture by professor Eric Lander, one of the leading experts on the human genome. He told us some astonishing and eye opening facts. Only one thousandth of our human genome separates us. Genetically we are 99,9% the same. At some point the human species counted only around 10 000 individuals. We are all their descendants. We truly have more in common than what separates us.

The human genome consists of around three billion building blocks. Up to now researchers have found four that determine skin colour. Professor Launder estimates that there are between ten and twelve in all. Ten or twelve out of three billion.

Last week, the Crown Princess and I invited a group of people for dinner to discuss how we can live together, how we can communicate to ensure cultural diversity as a resource, instead of a threat. One of the guests represented minority parents of school children. I think she had a very good point stating that school is a unique arena for cultural dialogue. School brings together adults who would otherwise never meet, united in one common interest: The wellbeing of our children. In this respect, school can be equally important for us parents as for the pupils.

2008 is the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. I believe their slogan “Together in Diversity” is both wise and challenging.

We need to remind ourselves of this slogan as we experience examples of riots in some parts of Europe, with mainly youth involved. The focus of this conference goes to the heart of these conflicts. Education plays a vital role in fighting the destructive powers that can ultimately lead to violent riots and casualties. We face a challenging task:

We need to replace marginalization with inclusion We need to replace exclusion with opportunity And we need to replace deprivation with dignity.

I wish you all the best in your important work and hope that the conference will bring you closer to achieving your goals.

Thank you for your attention.