Government approved UNESCO initiative

The union cabinet have approved the establishment of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development, as part of a Unesco initiative.

Managed by an operational agreement, the institute will strengthen educational and knowledge base for promoting education of peace and sustainable development-related research. The estimated expenditure for setting up the institute will be Rs.223.68 crore over a period of seven years.

It will put India into the group of select countries with a category one institute of Unesco. Currently there are 11 category one Institutes of the Unesco in the world, out of which nine are located in the developed countries while the remaining two are located in developing countries namely, Ethiopia and Venezuela.

Category one institutes and centres are an integral part of the Unesco and their governing bodies are either elected by the General Conference or appointed in whole or part by the Director General, Unesco, and report to the General Conference. The institute will also contribute to capacity building needs of member states with focus on Asia and the Pacific region.