Conference 02: "The School of the Future", Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic, July 2000,

Conference 02: "The School of the Future", Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic, July 2000,

The Second Conference (2), held in Damascus, addressed the theme of "The School of the Future" on the basis of a study prepared for the purpose, which examined the subject from nine axes: philosophy and objectives, curricula, education technologies, evaluation and examinations, the graduate of the school of the future, the teacher of the school of the future, school administration, the building of the school of the future, and funding.

The conference arrived at a set of orientations, the most prominent of which are: " that the philosophy of education should emanate from the profound Islamic conception of the universe, humankind and life; the protection of the Arab-Islamic civilisational constants to face the negative challenges imposed by globalisation; that education institutions should meet the needs of the labour and production market and the present and future requirements of society, as well as the requirements of life, by raising the competitive edge of Arab education systems; granting them a high degree of flexibility so that they respond to global developments and transformations; affirming the educational role of society's institutions and the family and their responsibilities in developing the educational process; affirming the employment of information technologies and their impact on every element of the educational process inside and outside the school; establishing Arab standards for levels of education quality while drawing on international criteria; and encouraging the private sector to participate and invest in the field of education.

The conference issued the Damascus Declaration on the School of the Future in the Arab world, in which Their Excellencies the Ministers affirmed their determination to exert their utmost efforts to keep pace with the changes and developments affecting education in the world, and to adapt to the changes that the future produces in our countries and in the world, whose effects are reflected on education and on society as a whole, in order to participate in charting the features of the global future in various fields. This requires making a persistent and continuous effort to build the Arab school that responds to the demands of change and meets the possibility of educational work with its various components and constituents, whether related to the objectives of education, its content and methods, its means and technologies, its administration and organisation, or other aspects of educational work. Their Excellencies the Ministers also affirmed their determination to make education a shared national and pan-Arab concern, and to make room for the participation of non-governmental institutions and all sectors of society in improving and funding it, while affirming that the State remains primarily responsible for the education of the generations and for activating joint Arab action in this field so that it becomes the shared lever for the process of renewal and change required by the "school of tomorrow".