. International cooperation in education for the reconstruction of countries following the settlement of disputes
The frequent occurrence of localized disputes following the end of the cold war is not only disrupting the daily lives of the people of those regions but is also undermining the socioeconomic foundations on which their lives have been built. It is also putting difficulties in the way of reconstructing and redeveloping those regions. Education has a particularly important role to play in the reconstruction of regions such as these once their differences have been settled. In short, not only does education provide a foundation for the restoration of economic activity and the people's daily lives, it also has an extremely important part to play in encouraging mutual understanding between peoples in terms of their historical, religious, and national identities, in building peace, and in securing the country's long-term development.
Given that today's children will be the mainstays of tomorrow's world, in regions in process of restoration following the settlement of their disputes, education is an ongoing undertaking that cannot be neglected even for a day, and it is for this reason that active support in the field of education by a peaceful country such as Japan is of such importance.
Even when regional administrative organizations are in process of restoring order, international cooperation in education must be provided on an emergency basis quite unlike that which applies in peacetime. Japan must consider what sort of role it would be able to fulfill under circumstances such as these, including tying up with international organizations and NGOs since they have a good deal of experience in this sort of thing. However, since these stop-gap provisions will eventually be replaced by peacetime international cooperation in education, tie-ups with international organizations and the like must necessarily take account of future bilateral cooperation in education between Japan and the country in question. At that point, as the process of cooperation shifts onto a peacetime footing as discussed above, it will be important to consider revising our response in stages with a view to the longer term.
Since religious problems and other social and cultural factors often have a substantial influence on education in countries that have recently resolved a regional dispute, it will be particularly useful for Japan to analyze examples of cooperative projects it has previously undertaken in countries that were subject to similar problems and to utilize such lessons as might be learned from these examples.
MEXT has duly discussed the need for careful consideration along the lines noted above when tying up in specific cases with other interested organizations to offer international cooperation in education to regions that have recently settled local disputes such as Afghanistan.
In the case of international cooperation in education for Afghanistan in particular, account was clearly taken of the conclusions reached by this Committee when implementing related policy, such as inviting Afghanistan's then-Minister of Education Abdul Raoul Amin to visit Japan (See Annex 1). It is, moreover, important that policy measures should continue to be discussed and implemented in this way.
