We need to change course and transform education

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 January as International Day of Education (link is external), in celebration of the role of education for peace and development.

Without inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong opportunities for all, countries will not succeed in achieving gender equality and breaking the cycle of poverty that is leaving millions of children, youth and adults behind.

Today, 258 million children and youth still do not attend school; 617 million children and adolescents cannot read and do basic math; less than 40% of girls in sub-Saharan Africa complete lower secondary school and some four million children and youth refugees are out of school. Their right to education is being violated and it is unacceptable.

This year the UN is celebrating the 4th year of Education Day, with this year's theme titled “Changing Course, Transforming Education”. As it was detailed in  UNESCO’s recent global Futures of Education report, transforming the future requires an urgent rebalancing or our relationships with each other, with nature as well as with technology that permeates our lives, bearing breakthrough opportunities while raising serious concerns for equity, inclusion and democratic participation.

This year’s International Day of Education provides a platform to showcase the most important transformations that have to be nurtured to realize everyone’s fundamental right to education and build a more sustainable, inclusive and peaceful futures. It will generate debate around how to strengthen education as a public endeavour and common good, how to steer the digital transformation, support teachers, safeguard the planet and unlock the potential in every person to contribute to collective well-being and our shared home.

"In  these  exceptional  times,  business  as  usual  is  no  longer  an  option.  If  we  are  to  transform the future, if we are to change course, we must rethink education.  This means forging a new social contract for education, as called for by the UNESCO report  on  the  Futures  of  Education,  released  last  November.  We  need  to  repair  past  injustices and orient the digital transformation around inclusion and equity. And we need education  to  fully  contribute  to  sustainable  development  –  for  instance,  by integrating environmental education in all curricula and by training teachers in this field." 

                                                                                                                                                                       - Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director General, on the occasion of International Day of Education 2022

More: https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/educationday