| VANCOUVER - The Vancouver-based Commonwealth of Learning (COL) has welcomed the Government of Canada's announcement that it is increasing its annual contribution to the agency from CDN$1.1 million to $2.2 million. It will enable COL to maintain the vitality of its services to the Commonwealth, especially for the vast majority of Commonwealth citizens who live in developing countries. "Canada's increased contribution to improve access to education in the Commonwealth through the Commonwealth of Learning is much valued and needed," said COL's President and Chief Executive Officer Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan following the announcement by Canadian Minister for International Cooperation, The Honourable Susan E. Whelan. "Education is recognised as a fundamental right of all individuals. It is also a means to reduce poverty and infant mortality and improve maternal health and family well-being," Dhanarajan noted. COL is funded on a voluntary basis by the 54-member Commonwealth and Canada is one of its major contributors. Dhanarajan spoke of his appreciation for Canada's "expression of confidence in the ability of the agency's expertise and programming to make important contributions to literacy and other human resource development priorities that world leaders have identified." He added that, "Open and distance education, together with communications technology tools, can do much to improve current levels of access to learning, especially for women and girls." In her announcement, Minister Whelan said that, "Canada's support for the Commonwealth of Learning will improve educational materials, expertise and technologies that are made available to developing countries; making educational tools more accessible helps people around the world begin to build a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities." The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) was created in 1987 at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Vancouver to encourage the development and sharing of distance-education knowledge, resources and technologies. COL has its headquarters in Vancouver, the only intergovernmental Commonwealth Agency located outside Britain, and is also the world's only intergovernmental organisation solely concerned with promoting and developing open and distance learning (ODL). ODL provides an affordable option for countries determined to improve the quality and accessibility of education for all their citizens. |