The United States, currently considering the terms of a potential bid to rejoin Unesco, has suggested that the organization should consider “resurrecting” a previously successful division of science education within its education sector.

The suggestion came in a statement to the plenary session of the World Conference on Science by Michael Southwick, US deputy assistant secretary of state, who described the Budapest meeting as “Unesco at its best”.

The United States withdrew from the organization in the mid-1980s over complaints of maladministration and over-politicization. A proposal last year from the State Department to ask Congress for funds to rejoin was shelved after discussions with the Office of Management and Budget concluded that the timing was premature.

Southwick pointed out that there had been a time when the education sector had had an “extraordinarily active and effective” division of science education. “Might it be time to resurrect it?”

His remarks reflected strong feelings about the need to boost science education worldwide held by members of the US delegation, including Bruce Alberts, president of the National Academy of Sciences, and Leon Lederman, former director of the Fermi National Laboratory.

Lederman said scientists needed to communicate the importance of nurturing scientific literacy in schools.

Full text: http://helix.nature.com/wcs/1news/02-1i.html