India, Unesco to set up research institute inspired by Gandhi

India, Unesco to set up research institute inspired by Gandhi

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-Unesco-to-set-up-res...

Times of India

NEW DELHI: Unesco and India will come together to establish an institute dedicated to research and innovation and regional networking. To be named Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development, it will be inspired by Gandhi's vision of peace and sustainability.

An agreement was signed between HRD minister Kapil Sibal and director general of Unesco Irina Bokova in Paris recently.

The institute's core activity will lie in research and capacity building. It will encourage knowledge exchange, regional networking and catalyze innovation by helping to design and test new approaches to education, a government release said. An expert advisory group would soon be set up by Unesco to develop an agenda for the institute.

"The institute comes at the right time, a time when the world is debating the contours of the century ahead. As the challenges of the 21st century are qualitatively different from the challenges of the 20th century, global understanding and education would assist in appreciating the impact of these challenges on peace and its relation to sustainable development," Sibal said after signing the agreement.