DECISION ASSEMBLY/AU/Dec.96(VI)
ON THE LINKAGE BETWEEN CULTURE
AND EDUCATION

The Assembly:

1. TAKES NOTE of the Report of the Algiers Conference of Ministers of Education in April 2005 and also the outcomes of the Extraordinary Session of the Ministers of Education in Addis Ababa in January 2006;

2. ALSO TAKES NOTE of the Report of the 1st Session of AU Conference of Ministers of Culture held in Nairobi, in December 2005

3. CONVINCED that African cultural values and heritages should provide the basis for education at all levels;

4. RECOGNIZES the importance of African languages as media of instruction and vehicles of culture for the achievement of African Renaissance;

5. RECALLS the previous commitments made to protect and promote African tangible and intangible cultural heritages as well as to develop appropriate policies for the development of culture and proportion of indigenous
African knowledge;

6. REAFFIRMS the indisputable interface between culture and education and the role of both culture and education in sustainable socio-economic development;

7. CONVINCED of the need to promote cultural literacy among Africans of all walks of life;

8. ALSO CONVINCED that culture and education are important weapons for the fight against poverty, HIV/AIDS pandemic and promotion of peace, stability and governance;

9. DETERMINE to eliminate certain cultural practices that have negative impacts on health, development, human rights and education;

10. RE-COMMITS to strengthen the interface between education and culture and give our full support to the implementation of programmes and projects to this effect;

11. URGES our ministries of culture and education to create the fora for regular consultations and streamlining culture in education and education in culture, in particular through the rebuilding of African educational systems;

12. CALLS UPON the Commission, in collaboration with Member States and RECs, to follow up and facilitate the implementation of this decision and to provide leadership in the process of re-instating the linkage between culture and education in Africa, specifically through the African Academy of Languages as well as reporting periodically thereon;

13. INVITES UNESCO and other relevant partners to provide support to both ministries of culture and education in their efforts to strengthen the interface between culture and education.

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