CHAPTER THREE AREAS OF CO-OPERATION ARTICLE4 CO-OPERATION IN POLICY FOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING Member States acknowledge that whilst currently each Member State has its own policies for education and training and whilst co-operation and mutual assistance in education and training is desirable and possible, the co-operation can be facilitated more effectively and can be expanded to cover more areas by the development and formulation of coherent, comparable, harmonised and eventually standardised policies with regard to the following matters, amongst others:a) widening provision and access to education and training as well as addressing gender equality; b) increasing equitable access, improving the quality and ensuring the relevance of education and training; c) rationalising admission requirements to education and training institutions and accreditation of qualifications; d) encouraging joint development and production of teaching and learning materials; e) achieving a partnership approach to financing education and training, among governments, beneficiaries and employers; f) promoting academic freedom and creating an enabling environment with appropriate incentives based on merit, for educated and trained persons to effectively apply and utilise their knowledge and skills for the benefit of Member States and the Region. g) achieving comparability, equivalence and standardisation of education and training systems. ARTICLE 5 CO-OPERATION IN BASIC EDUCATION : PRIMARY AND SECONDARY LEVELS 1 Member States hereby acknowledge that primary and secondary education provide the critical foundation upon which tertiary education is built and therefore that it is important to improve and sustain the educational standards at primary and secondary levels. 2 Member States agree that the primary and secondary education curricula shall include material on SADC countries in order to promote consciousness about the community which in tum will lead to fuller awareness of the imperative and process of regional integration. 8