The 2010 China Hangzhou International Conference on Educational Innovations (also called the Wenhui Award) opened on November 8 in Xiacheng District, Hangzhou, said the Hangzhou Daily.

Delegates from UNESCO, the World Bank, China and other nine nations, such as Korea, Thailand, and India, attended the opening ceremony. The attendees includes Chen Xiaoya, vice minister of Chinese Ministry of Education, and Gwang-jo Kim, director of the UNESCO Office in the Asia-Pacific Region.

The award is co-sponsored by the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau of Education, the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO, the China National Institute for Educational Research, the Zhejiang Provincial Education Department, the People’s Government of Hangzhou Municipality and the World Bank, and organized by the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Education, the Xiacheng District People’s Government, Hangzhou, the UNESCO-APEID (UNESCO Asia-Pacific Program of Educational Innovation for Development) Associated Center of Zhejiang University, and the UNESCO-APEID Associated Center of Xiacheng, Zhejiang.

The Wenhui Award for Educational Innovation 2010 was jointly launched by the UNESCO-APEID and the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO to recognize the contributions of educators and institutions which have optimized the potential of education and the human innovative spirit to address and resolve pressing issues and problems facing our world today.

The theme of the Award this year is Reaching the Marginalized in Basic Education, aimed at improving the access to and quality of education and training especially to those most in need. Individuals or institutions in UNESCO member states in Asia and the Pacific region that have designed and implemented significant educational innovations that have improved access to and the quality of education will be eligible for the award. The award shall be conferred on two individuals or institutions in recognition of their commitment and outstanding efforts in the development of educational innovations. The winners and awardees of Certificates of Merit will be selected by a jury of distinguished educators from the Asia-Pacific region. The two winners will receive a Certificate of Excellence and prize money of US$ 20,000 each at the China Hangzhou International Conference on Educational Innovations. Certificates of Merit may also be awarded to individuals or institutions that have demonstrated commendable innovative practices.

This year’s Award were given to the “Creation of Khmer Braille and Khmer Sign Language” programme from Cambodia which aims to provide the disabled with an access to the national education to involve them into the local and global communities, and the “Crambo Programme” from the Beijing Foreign Studies University, China which provides volunteer English teachers, tailored textbooks and training to China’s remote rural education. Certificates of Merit were awarded to the Malaysian “Smart School Programme,” the “Improving the Education for the poor in the Northwest District of India” programme from an Indian grassroots trust, and the Indian “Hole-in-the-Wall” programme.

Several theme conferences will also be held during the conference, including the International High-level Expert Meeting on Standards for the Quality of Basic Education, the Seminar on Regional Education Quality Monitor and Evaluation System, the Seminar on the Growing Educators, the Innovation Forum on School-based Moral Education, the Symposium on Preschool to Primary School Education, and the 3rd Festival of Classroom in Xiacheng District.

By Xie Fang and Wang Gongyuan