An Educational Seminar in Germany

Executive Director has been chosen again to represent Malaysia for a programme in Gummersbach, Germany entitled No Education, No Freedom, and No Opportunity. The event was organized by the International Academy for Leadership (IAF) under the Friedrich Naumann Foundation from May 13 May 24. 

Apart from Malaysia, 20 other countries participated in this seminar mainly from Ghana, Tanzania, Egypt, Palestine,Turkey, Argentina, Honduras, Colombia, Mexico, Serbia, Ukraine, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand, China, India, Sri Lanka, Germany and Pakistan.

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) is the Foundation for liberal politics. Established in 1958 by Theodor Heuss, the first president of the Federal Republic of Germany, it promotes individual freedom and liberalism. 

The Foundation follows the ideals of the protestant theologian, Friedrich Naumann. At the beginning of the last century, Naumann was a leading German liberal thinker and politician. He resolutely backed the idea of civic education. Naumann believed that a functioning democracy needs politically informed and educated citizens. According to him, civic education is a prerequisite for political participation and thus for democracy.

In this regard, the Foundation is an agent of organized liberalism. It promotes this through civic education, international political dialogues, and political counselling. The Foundation has numerous offices in Europe, Africa, America and Asia. It also enjoys close links with Germany’s Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Liberal International (LI).

While the Foundation’s activities in the field of civic education consist of seminars, conferences and publications aimed at promoting liberal values and principles, the international political dialogue program provides a discussion forum for a wide range of liberal issues. The Foundation’s counselling programs focus on candidates for political office, liberal political parties and other democratic organizations.

In the 2 weeks, we discussed various educational issues such as:

• Education as a commodity and as a right
• Education as a means of securing freedom and opportunity
• Liberal education policy and reform
• Securing quality education
• Education,privatization and education for profit
• Education for democracy
• Vocational training from a liberal perspective 
• Lifelong learning as a response to rapid technological development and its effect on the labor market