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Minister of Education, Professor Sibusiso Bengu, is to lead a delegation of South African education officials to attend the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Ministers of Education conference in Harare, Zimbabwe from March 15 and 19.

South Africa will feature prominently at the conference held at the International Conference Centre.

The main aim of the ministers' conference will be the examination, discussion and adoption of the Draft Programme of Action of the OAU Decade of Education (1997-2006) and its implementation.

All member states are expected to draw up national programmes of action to be adopted by their respective appropriate bodies and establish national committees for the Decade.

Minister Bengu, who is the President of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) Bureau of Ministers, will make a statement during the opening ceremony of the Ministerial Seminar of Communication for Education on March 17.

The ADEA ministerial meeting is part of a new initiative in support of education in Africa. The initiative was launched last October with the organisation of an "Experts' Meeting on Capacity-Building in Communication for Education in Africa, held in Cotonou, Benin.

Mr Ignatius Chombo, the Zimbabwean Minister of Higher Education and Technology, will deliver the opening address.

The role of communication in education and development is one of the topics to be discussed at the seminar.

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