Education reform in the Asia-Pacific region must speed up if it is to keep pace with rapid globalization, the head of a major non-governmental organization (NGO) said yesterday.

"The inter-connected nature of the world, the world economy and citizenship demands that we actually respond to these changes. Education provides common ground for us to work together to respond," Vishakha Desai, president of Asia Society, said at a press conference in Beijing.

Desai was visiting Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Asia-Pacific Forum on Education, which is co-hosted by Asia Society and the China Education Association for International Exchange.

The three-day forum will highlight both problems and opportunities in education across the region.

It will convene more than 50 education leaders, scholars and innovators from the region for an exchange of ideas and development of joint projects to promote students' global knowledge and skills.

Desai also compared education systems currently being adopted by different countries.

"Asian leaders need to greatly expand access to education and transform their systems to prepare their students for the more entrepreneurial, creative and knowledge-intensive jobs of the global economy," she said, noting the education inequality that exists in some developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Young people growing up today in China, India and other developing countries have an unprecedented opportunity to produce wealth and solve business and social problems in the years ahead," she added

Source: China Daily