Virtual Educa 2010 Opens in Santo Domingo

The most important annual event on education and technology was inaugurated in the Dominican Foreign Ministry with a formal event headed by the President of the Republic

President Leonel Fernández at Virtual Educa”s  Inaugural Ceremony

On Monday, June 21st, the President of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernández, formally opened the most important annual event on education and technology in Latin America. People from around the world are attending the event, which this
year is headquartered in Santo Domingo. This year’s slogan, proposed by President Fernández himself, is “A New Education for a New Era.”
 
Accompanying  President Fernández, who presides over the Board of Trustees of the program, was his wife the First Lady, Margarita Cedeño; Vice President, Rafael Alburquerque;  Foreign Minister, Carlos Morales Troncoso; Ligia Amada Melo,
Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology as well as President of Virtual Educa Caribe; Melanio Paredes, Minister of Education; Yamile Eusebio, Director of Training Activities and Internships for FUNGLODE  and the Coordinator in the DR of Virtual Educa; Franklin García Fermín, Lord Rector of the Autonomous University of  Santo Domingo (UASD); José María Antón, Secretary General of Virtual Educa; Marie
Levens, Director of the Department for Human Development, Education and Culture of the Organization of American States (OAS) and Álvaro Marchesi Ullastres, Secretary General of the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), among other personalities. Nearly 800 invited guests attended the inauguration, held in the auditorium of the Foreign Ministry.

In his speech, the last of the night, President Leonel Fernández said they were going to
“carry out more than 240 presentations for thousands of participants.” He mentioned some of the topics that will be included in the itinerary. “The convocation will take place when, on an international scale, focus and attention are given to education in places where there is dissatisfaction with what exists and there is a desire to push for change.” He spoke about the debates over the quality and future of education in Europe, the United States and
Africa. “I recently read an article by the President of Yale, Richard Levin, about the future of education in Asia. This meeting today is an initiative to think about the future of education in Latin America and the Caribbean.”  

“Globalization has made us look closer at the models of production and to also think about competitive strategies necessary to become part of the chain of production while adding value to it. This
refers us to the society of knowledge or the economy of knowledge where education and becoming informed plays a fundamental role.” The President made reference to passages in the Levin article about what is happening in China and India where enrollment in higher education centers has grown enormously.  

“But, beyond access [to education], is the issue of quality which must be motivated by special discussion. There are those who
suggest the model of the elite universities which is essentially suggesting the Chinese and Indian model with the creation of this type of educational system. An elitist model with government funds and exchanges of professors while the rest of the universities have no access to this quality nor to this level of recognition. This model was not born in Asia but is seen in various places around the world.” He insisted on the idea of debating this issue because the world cannot
continue with such a lack of academic equality which is resulting in inequality in education beginning with students in elementary and high school.  

“The problem is how to resolve this. It seems to us that the solution lies in technology and innovation because that which is elite will catch on. In mobile phones we can find mobile universities; the important thing is the content sent through these devices. There are many elite courses available
on iTunes, for example. The gap between first and second class universities can be bridged with information technology and the Internet which means we will be able to access a quality education free of charge. When we want to change the information and knowledge, this will change society. The world will recognize this huge revolution of knowledge and learning.”

He spoke about exchanges, collaborative and interactive knowledge as “that which develops
capacity in thinking and challenging and forming bases of creativity and innovation. This is a key moment in the life of our people. Generally we talk about the crisis but underneath it lays profound changes that are going to transform today’s world, for the better.  I hope that Virtual Educa can contribute to the discussion of these ideas. I would be satisfied if, through technology and innovation, we transform the elite universities into universities for the
masses.”

The Beginning of the Event

The inaugural event began just after 7:00 pm with the Dominican national anthem and the popular merengue song “Caña Brava,” played by members of the National Choral group followed by an introduction of those seated at the table of honor.

Then, Yamile Eusebio, General Coordinator of the event, gave the
welcoming speech. “We would like to officially open this event, much anticipated by a great deal of those here present. This week, in view of the program we will be following, should be called Education week but because of the fact that we have 450 people here from 19 countries as well as 2,000 from our own, we could also call it Cultural Diversity week.” 

Ms. Eusebio made mention of the nearly 20 Latin American Parliamentary members who were
sitting among the educators and who will be debating with academics about education and technology.  Eusebio thanked President Fernández for having had the vision to bring this event to the DR and José María Antón for his support and confidence in the organization of the event. She recognized the effort and work done by the 22 public and private institutions to make Virtual Educa Santo Domingo 2010 a reality.  She thanked the
government ministers involved in this area for their “labor of love.”

They showed a video about the event, from the Dominican point of view which will be  added to later after the meeting is completed. She then handed the floor over to Franklin García Fermín, Rector of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) who welcomed the foreign participants and thanked President Fernández’s suggestion
to select the UASD as the venue for the event. He recognized the work done by the ministries as well as private and public institutions to make this important event a reality.

“In the 21st century, the majority of countries are preparing to respond to the society of knowledge, which demands that we incorporate new technology for the development of the learning processes and the UASD, first in the Americas, is creating the infrastructure to be able to offer
virtual education to satisfy the demands of people who are insisting on more and more education through the various networks,” said García Fermín.

He offered details about a post-graduate course being offered to nearly 300 teachers in the area of virtual education. He also thanked President Fernández and the appropriate ministers for having facilitated the modernization of the university and the training of docents.

Álvaro Marchesi Ullastres, Secretary General of the Organization of Ibero-American States, was the third speaker. “I feel at home here seeing so many friends. Also because the government, with the President at the helm, is promoting a project for the future, for the transformation of society and education in the Dominican Republic which will bring  everyone into the society of information and, hopefully, of knowledge.”

He
clarified what he meant. “I say hopefully because it is not so simple. Young people are becoming more and more digital but the leap between information and real knowledge is not so easy to take. This is the reason for this meeting: to see how society accesses information and knowledge. And to assure that this future project keeps in mind the combined actions of education in which we should not just look to the future to find it but also to our pasts where we already have our
societies, schools, students and teachers to help pull everyone along together.” 

In ending, he referred to the Educational Challenges 2021 project with which “we aspire to transform education into a higher quality system while changing society into a place with more justice, culture, freedom and equality.  In this Ibero-American project, the Dominican Republic has a leadership role to play; it is fulfilling that role by promoting
these projects for which I thank the President and Minister Paredes for moving this forward and for making the DR an important player in these international forums.”   

José María Antón. Secretary General of Virtual Educa, said it was an honor for him to thank the Dominican President for the support given to this event and Virtual Educa. “The Millennium Development Goals put special emphasis
on education. The second point of emphasis is the acquisition of knowledge to confront the challenges of the world today. But even the eighth objective, which establishes the need for cooperation with the private sector to provide access to Information Technology and Communication, is important. The convergence of both expresses the essence of our initiative.”

He went on to thank the institutions and those who worked in the organization of Virtual Educa Santo
Domingo 2010.  In the end, he announced that the Virtual Educa 2010 Prize will go to the former Education Minister of El Salvador, Abigail Pérez de Castro. “Hopefully among all of us we will be able to promote a new education system for a new era,” said Antón.

Virtual Educa is a program developed by the Ibero-American Secretariat General (SEGIB) and, on this occasion, is being called “Virtual Educa Santo Domingo
2010.”

The activity will go on until Friday, June 25th mostly in the Pedro Mir Library of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. Some 3,000 people will attend the various conferences, panels, debates, workshops and seminars which will provide numerous opportunities to become familiar with successful experiences and ideas underway on an international level in the area of TICs which are inviting educators to replicate.

 Parallel to
this event, FUNGLODE is holding a Multilateral Forum on Education for Human Development, which runs until Thursday June 24th.

For more information on this event, please visit our webpage: http://www.virtualeduca.info/santodomingo2010