REMARKS BY RT HON CHARLES CLARKE MP AT OPENING SESSION OF E-INDIA,

HYDERABAD AUGUST 25 TH 2009

I would like to begin by expressing my thanks for the opportunity to be here this morning. E-India is a world-class cutting edge event in which it is a privilege to participate.

It is really impossible to imagine a display of this kind taking place even ten years ago, so fast is the pace of modern change.

I want to praise here the very positive approach of the Government of India and of State Governments such as this here in Andhra Pradesh. Programmes such as the SSA project, and the support from the World Bank for commitments to vocational education show that key decision-makers in this country are indeed committed to a strong and resilient future for India in this changing world.

That commitment is very necessary. Your great Nobel Prize winning citizen, Professor Amartya Sen, wrote this week that India has massive potential if public resources are well targeted at the educational and other injustices which still exist.

And at a time when an international survey of readiness to use the most up-to-date Information and Communications Technology has placed India at 118 – fairly or unfairly – behind countries like Brazil (60), Russia (50) and China (73), the commitment shown by Government is particularly welcome.

So the organisation of this E-India event is particularly timely.

E-India covers the whole range of public policy. And it is certainly right to emphasise the contribution which ICT can make to solving many problems, for example in the relationship between the citizen and government (e-government) – as I know from my time as Home Secretary in the United Kingdom - in health and in other areas which will be discussed in the next couple of days.

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But I hope that you will excuse me if I concentrate today on the massive contribution which I believe that properly used Information and Communication Technology can make to educational progress.

The fact is that the change illustrated by this E-India event is the story of our times. We can see here around us the technological change which is transforming economies and societies throughout the world. And that goes hand in hand with dramatic social change, and indeed pushes and accelerates profound transformations of our societies and cultures, whether in relation to traditional work and customs or to the position of women, young people or traditionally excluded ethnic groups.

And this dramatic process of change is influencing domestic and international politics too – quite fundamentally. The speed and immediacy of modern communications, exploited as it is by an immensely fast-moving media, means that any problem anywhere in the world rapidly becomes a concern for everyone in the world – provoking discussions and decisions with huge implications.

And one profound question emerges from this accelerating process of change.

It arises for every organisation, whether business or public service, whether at the scale of a country or of an individual town or village.

It arises for every individual, whatever their age, sex or experience of life.

The question is whether we are to be victims of this process of change, disempowered by it, cowed by it, reduced by it.

Or whether we are to master it, benefit from it, strengthen ourselves from it, direct it positively and broaden and deepen ourselves and our capacities through it.

Even to pose the question is to answer it.

This process of change, and the speed with which it is taking place cannot be ignored.

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It has to be addressed.

There are plenty of conservatives who wish that this process of change would just stop, or even go into reverse as they extol the glories of the past. They just say ‘stop the world I want to get off’ and try to hold everyone else back as they do.

At this time of year we certainly see those romantic illusionists out in force in England as the exam results are published and assorted reactionaries lash every improvement in performance as a decline in educational standards. I am sure that there are similar people in India too.

But I believe that these views, which do exist, have to be contested.

It is necessary to face the truth that not only is change happening but it will continue to happen and it will accelerate.

And so we have to give ourselves the tools to control, direct and exploit that process of change.

And the greatest of those tools is education, and education using the most modern of methods.

In whatever field, high quality education, where possible for all people and throughout life, is the means by which the challenges of the future will be successfully addressed.

Put bluntly those individuals, companies, communities and countries which invest in education and skills will succeed. Those that don’t will be left behind.

And modern investment in education and skills can only really be done by investing in modern educational methods.

In many parts of the world, including in the United Kingdom, the traditional blackboard in the classroom has been replaced by the

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electronic whiteboard. Personal computers and laptops are now universal. An enormous range of high quality software offers both whole classes and individual students a level of educational inspiration which has never before been available. Distance learning is now a reality for many. Groups of school pupils in one continent do study together with groups of pupils in another continent. Teachers are now trained to use this equipment to enhance the quality of their own teaching.

In fact over ten short years the nature of education in many parts of the world has already changed precisely in order to provide students with the skills and insights to allow them to flourish in the modern world.

Such change is not easy. Quality is essential – particularly when all our young people are competing in a world where educational standards are constantly evaluated and compared, so that recognised certification of achievement is necessary. Any investment will rightly only be judged on the outcome, and not upon what was put in.

Equipment is not enough on its own. High quality tools – hardware – have to be put together with high quality educational content – software – and high quality professional teaching and continuing professional development to deliver the outcomes we seek.

And that combination of hardware, software, and well-trained up-to-date teachers is not easy to get.

Many teachers have themselves resisted change, feeling more comfortable with traditional methods. Proper levels of training for teachers have not always been available. Many schools and colleges have not initially been prepared to invest in the necessary hardware of software.

These problems are real and are difficult to solve. They need government leadership, resources and programmes.

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But it is necessary to solve the problems and to raise the quality of education on offer, which means contesting those forces of conservatism who maintain that all this change is quite unnecessary.

So it is worth setting out the vision and it is worth persevering.

And the good news is that it does work.

Educational research in Britain shows that, used properly, educational technology enables pupils to reach higher education standards more quickly, enhances the whole experience of education and provides the capacity which is necessary to face the future with confidence.

That is the most worthwhile of endeavours and I am confident that the debates, discussions and practical demonstrations at this E-India event will strengthen still further progress in this direction in this country.

I wish you the best of fortune in these efforts

Rt Hon Charles ClarkeMember of Parliament for Norwich South

clarkec@parliament.uk

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