30. Thirty-nine participants took the floor in the three sessions of plenary which considered the role and the contribution of education in implementing the world Population Plan of Action. In addition, ten participants provided the Secretariat with comprehensive country reports.

31. The message that came through loud and clear from all the presentations and reports was that population education was real, that it could not be brushed aside, and that the very survival of humankind and our environment in the twenty-first century depended upon a pragmatic short-term and long-term far-sighted plan of action. All the participants, irrespective of the size, form of government or religious orientation of their countries, realized that uncontrolled population increase was a global phenomenon for which macro-level solutions could be evolved. However, each country had its unique problems, and national abilities to deal with these would need to be strengthened.

32. The Istanbul Congress, organized by UNESCO and UNFPA at a critical stage of human history, provided the forum for an exchange of experiences which imparted useful information. These experiences showed that co-ordination between various government departments and committed NGOs was a prerequisite for the successful handling of population issues. On account of the multi-faceted nature of the problem, the solutions demanded a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach. In this, population education must be viewed as perhaps the most important part of a nation's strategy to contain the growth of population. Population education should be integrated appropriately, at all levels of education, with the objective of inculcating in youth and adults an awareness of the problem and the need for responsible parenthood. Finally, it was the opinion of all the participants that international agencies should continue to lend their support to the countries, not only financially, though that was very important, but also qualitatively.

33. The salient points made in the presentations have been summarized under broad themes. This summary now follows.

B. Population, education and development

34. Most of the speakers described the demographic and socioeconomic situation of their country, underscoring rapid population growth, rapid urbanization and other social, health and economic consequences of these population trends. Many of them also described the measures being adapted to deal with these issues. Several participants expressed the commitment of their governments or, in a few cases, the need for governments to take the issue of population education more seriously than before. With strong political will, most things were possible.

35. All speakers stressed the importance of the role of population education in addressing the above-mentioned population issues. They recognized the role of population education in creating awareness among government officials, decision-makers and the public at large. This awareness in some countries had paved the way to the development of national population policies, which in turn gave a key role to information, education and communication in their population programmes. The role of population education in educational innovation and national capacity building was mentioned by many speakers.

36. Several speakers referred to women's education and described various projects aimed at increasing enrolment and retention of girls in school. The need for creating awareness in this regard, particularly among rural dwellers, was highlighted.

37. The participants called upon the Congress to recognize that the contribution expected from education was only a part of a wider strategy. It was felt, that we should not oversimplify the issues. An understanding of relationships between population dynamics, environment and sustainable development would provide only part of the answer, but there was a need to continue to promote, in the international and national arena, other measures which were as critical as population education. One participant said that the issue of population growth and resource depletion should not be reduced to another Third World issue. The countries of the developed world, through the pursuit of unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, accounted for a greater proportion in the depletion of resources, although their population was comparatively small.

C. The status and concept Of Population education

38. Many speakers stated that their countries had already integrated, or planned to integrate, population education into all levels of formal and non-formal education. There was a broad consensus that population education should aim at improving the quality of life, at establishing a balance between population and resources, and at contributing to sustainable development. Attitudes and values that determine desired family size needed to be changed. To achieve this, the status of women should be elevated and social relationships transformed.

39. Several speakers underscored the need to adapt population education programmes to decentralization efforts taking place in their region, both by defining their contents on the basis of local needs and by decentralizing their implementation.

40. Some speakers stressed the importance of an integrated approach and of ensuring efficient co-ordination between the different entities dealing with population education and related subjects. Family life, responsible parenthood and AIDS prevention education were considered to be integral components of population education. Several speakers mentioned the effort being made in coordinating population education with various components of related population programmes such as mother and child health and family planning, and health and nutrition education. Other content areas mentioned included population distribution, internal and international migration, sex education, and AIDS and drug abuse prevention. It was felt, nevertheless, that the inclusion of these content areas in the curriculum should take into consideration the level of education.

41. For many speakers, whereas population education in the past had been a response to the need to control population growth in the light of the repercussions of population dynamics on the quality of life in such fields as the environment, health, employment, food supply and security, on the threshold of the twenty-first century human development and quality of life ought to become the central concerns of population education programmes. Many speakers said that in their view population education was both an integral part and an integrating factor in any overall education policy.

42. Several speakers from countries with long experience in population education recognized the need to reinforce non-formal education programmes and extend them to all groups through the use, inter alia, of street drama and songs. One participant emphasized that couples about to get married represented a priority population group. It was also stressed that literacy programmes were an appropriate channel for population education. One speaker mentioned a successful experiment in government official/church collaboration in providing sex education and population education to adolescent and youth groups, and to adults of both sexes.

43. Participants from countries suffering from civil war expressed the need to target rural areas which did not benefit from population education. Others, from countries with high school drop-out rates proposed to undertake an active programme intended for this target group. One participant said that in the code of occupied territories, the occupying authority should allow these populations to improve their socioeconomic condition, including the provision of full education services and population education in particular.

44. A wide disparity concerning the state of population education existed among the countries and the regions. Some countries were already in their third programme cycle and had institutionalized population education in their formal education system, while others had barely started. Some participants stressed the need to give pre-service teacher training due attention. The use of distance training techniques to reach teachers in rural areas was strongly recommended. Concerning teacher training, several speakers referred to the words of UNESCO's General-Director, emphasizing the importance which should be accorded to the integration of population education in higher education curricula and, in this respect, expressed the desire that every effort be made to promote the establishment and strengthening of teacher-training colleges and faculties of educational sciences in all countries.

45. Some speakers referred to the major problems which confront population education: lack of communication specialists and the need to train them to improve their transmission, in appropriate terms, of information to rural populations. Some concepts were regarded with skepticism and even suspicion in tradition-bound societies. Population education was said to have increased the scope of the curriculum and the teacher's workload. This has triggered resistance in some quarters. Another objection was that the integration of these new concepts would be costly.

D. The role of research and evaluation

46. Many speakers emphasized the role of research in the process of programme and project formulation, political discussion and approval, implementation and evaluation. Some of them reported on usefulresearch experiments conducted in their countries. Mention was made of master's degree programmes, of specialization courses in population education in some countries and of the need to reinforce the teaching of population education in universities.

47. Population education, like every other subject, needed to adapt itself to changing needs and situations. To that end, research studies were very important. There should be an in-built evaluation mechanism in every population education programme.

48. The need for networking of documentation and information on population issues and for closer inter-linking of population education with population information and communication as mutually supporting activities within the national population policies and programme was stressed by several speakers. It was felt that the relevant population information should be provided to update population education. Teachers should be provided with the necessary population information and communication skills to upgrade their knowledge and performance.

E. Regional and international co-operation

49. In this respect, two major issues were raised by several participants. First, many countries facing economic difficulties had inadequate resources to implement population education. Therefore, international resource mobilization and support was needed to achieve the objectives of population education in both the short- and long-term perspectives. Secondly, the need was expressed for more technical assistance and co-operation at international level if population education programmes were to meet the demographic challenges of the twenty-first century.

50. Three speakers made reference to the successful experiments of their respective countries in applying the Jomtien recommendation so as to introduce population education content into ongoing projects with bilateral and multilateral financing under the responsibility of different ministries ; they strongly urged wider utilization of the recommendation.

51. Several speakers referred to the regional preparatory meetings, especially in Africa and in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, and expressed their satisfaction with and support for the Declarations adopted in Dakar and in Caracas.

52. One participant suggested that a project aimed at fostering awareness among the youth of the French-speaking countries of Africa be included in the Action Framework as a proposal for further consideration.

53. Many speakers expressed their intention to participate in the International Conference

on Population and Development to be held in Cairo in 1994.

54. The fifth plenary session, presided by Ms. Uklu Bilgen, Deputy Under-Secretary, Ministry of National Education on behalf of the Minister of National Education of Turkey, started with a note of condolence by the Assistant Director-General for Education of UNESCO on the sudden demise of the President of Turkey. He briefly described his contributions and accomplishments and expressed condolences on behalf of the United Nations, UNESCO and UNFPA with a minute of silence.

55. The Rapporteur briefly summarized the report of the Congress, including the plenary sessions and the two Commissions, which was then presented page by page by the President of the Session for comments and approval by the participants. The comments and suggestions by the participants have been incorporated in the Final Report of the Congress.

56. Similarly, the "Draft Declaration" and "Population Education: An Action Framework on the Eve of the Twenty-First Century" were also approved by the Congress. The Declaration was adopted as the Istanbul Declaration.

57. The delegate from Iraq requested the floor to describe the suffering caused by United Nations embargo, especially on the health and education of Iraqi children, and offered an invitation to the Delegates to visit Iraq to observe the situation there. Replying to the point raised by the Iraqi delegate, the representative of tire Director-General, Mr. Colin N. Power mentioned that the United Nations agencies such as UNESCO, WHO and UNICEF have undertaken missions to Iraq and are monitoring the situation. They are providing humanitarian assistance to Iraq.

58. At the closing ceremony, Mr. Colin N. Power presented a vote of thanks on behalf of the Director-General of UNESCO and the Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund. He thanked the Government of Turkey for hosting the Congress and providing all the necessary assistance, including the financial contribution, for its successful organization. He assured the delegates that the recommendations and the Framework of Action approved at the Congress will be implemented.

59. The Minister of Education of Nigeria thanked on behalf the participants. He said that the Congress had provided an opportunity for the exchange of ideas and experiences on the vital issues of population and development. He hoped that the "Istanbul Declaration" would facilitate the solution of the population problem.

60. The President formally closed the Congress with the remarks that it had been a very successful Congress, that its Declaration would be called as "Istanbul Declaration" and that the report of the Congress would be a good reference document for the World Population Conference next year.