The social, economic and technological changes of the past decades are making education for all more crucial than ever. Yet education systems, to varying degrees worldwide, are struggling to afford educational opportunities for all, to provide their graduates with the necessary knowledge and skills for the evolving marketplaces and to prepare their citizens for lifelong learning within the emerging knowledge societies. No country can afford to ignore the ongoing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovations in the field of education today.

Ministers of education, policy- and decision-makers have to make numerous policy decisions on educational objectives, equitable distribution of funds, equipment, teacher training activities, legal frameworks, curriculum and educational software development, the integration of ICTs in teaching and learning, etc. Many ministries, however, waste scarce resources on patchwork solutions and technology-led, isolated pilot projects implemented without a clear framework by different external and internal players. Other countries, well aware of the need for a coherent strategy, have developed a master plan which could benefit from a review and update, in view of the latest developments and research.

Impressive advances in technology and their application in education systems over the past few years show that it is possible to concurrently expand access, improve internal efficiency, promote the quality of teaching and learning, and improve system management. To achieve improvements through ICTs requires, however, learning from past mistakes and careful analysis of how to innovate strategically and durably.

Many countries expressed their interest in getting neutral advice in the field of ICTs and education; advice that was neither loan-, vendor- or technology- driven. In response, the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) invited international experts to develop content, structure and methods of a seminar on ICT policies in education and applied them at a high level seminar for ministers, decision-makers and policy-makers from 13 Member States held in Moscow in April and June 2001. The UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education launched the Asia and Pacific Programme for ICT in Education, which puts special emphasis on the development and improvement of ICT policies.

To assist countries in the Asia and Pacific region in the development or improvement of educational ICT policies, UNESCO Bangkok and IITE organised this joint High Level Seminar and Workshop for Decision-Makers and Policy-Makers from Asia and the Pacific “Towards Policies for Integrating Information and Communication Technologies into Education”, held from 18 February to 31 May 2003.

The main aims of this seminar are to:

• Share views and experiences from different countries, deliver executive summaries on key ICT in education issues, present global trends, address typical bottlenecks, and analyse and present lessons learnt from different countries and continents;
• Address questions raised by participants on ICTs in education;
• Establish and state core principles, which have to be taken into account for the development of educational policies;
• Provide evidence to support policy formulation, management, and monitoring;
• Assist policy makers in developing strategies to integrate ICTs in educational policies and programmes in a more systematic, cost-effective, and culturally appropriate manner;
• Provide assistance in planning, training, assessment, and hands-on support to ministries to help develop or improve policies for the effective use of technologies in education.