Professor Peter Mayo was keynote speaker and guest of honour at the international conference on 'Lifelong Learning in Developing Countries with special reference to Bangladesh', held at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST) Dhaka in Bangladesh from 22 to 23 February. The conference was organised by the Institute of Lifelong Learning Bangladesh in collaboration with Alshana Mission and UNESCO Dhaka Office.
Peter Mayo delivered a talk on Lifelong Learning and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, arguing that for Lifelong Learning (LLL) to suit these goals it needs to be stripped of its reductionist early 21st century discourse to be reconfigured in more holstic terms; in short going beyond the restrictions of LLL for 'employability', which does not mean employment, to address different aspects of people's subjectivities conceiving them as relational beings with regard to the rest of society and the cosmos, and highlighting human-earth relations. This is also in keeping with some of the claims made for LLL in the context of the so-called 4th Industrial Revolution, claims, he argued, that should not be taken on board uncritically.
Prof. Mayo also provided the concluding intervention to the programme. The conference convenor was Professor Asoke Bhattacharya, formerly of Jadavpur University, Kolkota, India and currently Director of the Bangladesh Institute on Lifelong Learning. The Rector of Ahsanullah University and the Bangladesh Minister of Education, Dipu Moni, delivered the opening address.