Proposed Mahatma Gandhi Institute gets UNESCO category-1 status
23 Sep 2009
The executive board of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESCO) has approved India's proposal for setting up a Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace & Sustainable Development and has accorded UNESCO category-1 status for the institute.
The joint administrative and finance commission of the executive board, at its 182nd session on 18 September 2009, approved the proposal by acclamation.
India will be the first country in the Asia Pacific region to have a UNESCO category-I institute once the `Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development' is set up.
At present, there are eleven UNESCO category-I institutes and except 3 of them, all are located in developed countries and none is located in Asia.
The proposal, submitted to UNESCO earlier this year, resonates with UNESCO's aims and objectives and aims at building the defences of peace in the minds of men, the release noted.
Union minister for human resource development Kapil Sibal had earlier met the director-general of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, on 9 July 2009 and sensitised him on India's keenness for establishing the institute.
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