On the International Day of Education, UNESCO launched its new meeting point at the United Nations Headquarter in New York. A kiosk was inaugurated by the Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, joined by several members of the UN Group of Friends of Education and Lifelong Learning, co-chaired by Argentina, Czech Republic, Kenya, Japan and Norway. The Kiosk is located at the Concourse level of the visitor’s entrance and proposes an interactive photo booth presented in French and English language modes. A touch screen content control allows the visitor to choose from several videos that are displayed on the wall.  Education is critical to achieve the 2030 Agenda. According to UNESCO figures, 258 million children are still out of school and many of those attending school learn poorly as two-thirds of the 411 million children who are deficient in reading and mathematics attend educational establishments. “To face the challenges of tomorrow, not only do we need massive investment, but an overhaul of educational systems is necessary,” said the Director-General. What better way to convince stakeholders to increase their investment in education than to listen to those who believe that education makes dreams come true? Come and listen to Rachidatou who live in Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city in Burkina Faso, where literacy rates are steadily improving but are still markedly lower for women than men. Rachidatou Sana, 11, is already an outstanding pupil. But she will have to find her own solution in the fight to keep on with her studies. Like many girls her age in Burkina Faso, Rachidatou was born to poor parents. She is daily torn between home chores, earning a living and studying to better her situation. All she wants is an equal chance, the same as everyone else. “I want to become a nurse to help others and my family”. Prathibha Balakrishnan (38) is a teacher to the Betta Karumba people at the village of Kadichanokolli deep in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve in southern India. Every day, she overcomes very large obstacles on the 7 km dirt road she walks to get to school - elephants. When she arrived in the village 11 years ago, there was no electricity, no school and no healthcare. The Betta Karumba community mostly work on tea and coffee plantations and the level of illiteracy is high. All of us have stories about a wonderful teacher or about a moment when the acquisition of a new skill opened up a world of opportunities for us. Let us continue the discussion beyond International Education Day to make an ongoing plea for education.

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 January as International Day of Education, in celebration of the role of education for peace and development and invited UNESCO to facilitate its celebration worldwide. 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. In New York, Member States joined the President of the General Assembly and UNESCO to call for action. They reaffirmed that learning is the best tool we have to empower people, preserve the planet, build prosperity and foster peace. “Without education we cannot achieve the SDGs” said the Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations. “Education has the potential to lift those furthest behind out of extreme poverty, to stir hope in children trapped in conflict, to equip communities to recognize and correct inequalities. However, current projections predict that in the year 2030, 40% of youth will not complete secondary education. As we enter the Decade of Action and Delivery we must accelerate our implementation of #SDG4.” President of the UN General Assembly, Mr Tijjani Muhammad-Bande. The UNESCO Deputy Director-General, Mr Xing Qu, opened the first debate by these strong statement: “Education is the best investment we can make for our future, especially as we move towards a knowledge society. I am thinking of the investments that need to be made in digital education, at a time when one billion girls and women lack the necessary digital skills”. Then UNESCO presented a new online tool, Education Progress, which will enable members of the public, as well as education planners and partners, to check countries’ progress in achieving global SDG4 education. The tool was developed by UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report with the support of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany and will be available in the six official languages of the UN (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Russian) and German. UNESCO office in New York was pleased to facilitate a meeting of the UN Group of Friends of Education and Lifelong Learning, co-chaired by Argentina, Czech Republic, Kenya, Japan and Norway. The Group of Friends held its anniversary meeting at the eve of the International Day of Education to reaffirm the collective commitment to raise funds and coordinate efforts to work toward achieving the SGD4. The Group is an active informal platform for advocacy and outreach on education related initiatives. It consists of members from all regions of the world who are committed to champion equitable and inclusive education for all. But efforts should not stop at the end of the day. UNESCO has started 2020 with a full programme of work, starting with the launch of a global initiative to reimagine the Futures of Education. The initiative is catalyzing a global debate on how knowledge, education and learning need to be reimagined in a world of increasing complexity, uncertainty, and precarity. Your voice counts and your perspective matters. Inputs from individuals, networks, and organizations will inform the work of the International Commission and shape the global debate.  Join the debate here!

On 19 December 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution ‘Education for Sustainable Development in the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. The General Assembly resolution Education for Sustainable Development in the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, introduced by the Group of 77 and China, calls upon the international community to scale up education for sustainable development in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The decision relates to various aspects of education for sustainable development and more broadly the implementation of SDG 4 as it recognizes, among others, the gendered barriers faced by girls in accessing education, and the need to deliver quality education to children in conflict and post-conflict situations.  With the adoption of the resolution, the international community stresses UNESCO’s mandated role in leading and coordinating the Education 2030 Agenda, as well as its position as the lead agency for education for sustainable development. It also highlights the new framework entitled “Education for Sustainable Development: Towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (ESD for 2030)”, which builds upon the experiences of the Global Action Programme in its five Priority Action Areas of policy, education and training, educators, youth and communities. ESD for 2030 will be launched officially in June 2020 in Berlin, Germany.          For the first time, the resolution explicitly emphasizes the importance of further developing and implementing educational programmes to address climate change challenges, thus reaffirming the relevance of ESD for 2030 today. Furthermore, this year’s resolution notes the significant progress made by the Global Action Programme, particularly through its Key Partner Network that has exposed 26 million learners to education for sustainable development curricula and trained two million educators in this domain. Through the resolution, the UN General Assembly invites UNESCO to support Member States in their efforts to promote education for sustainable development. It also reiterates its call to Member States to provide inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels, and ensure that all people may have access to lifelong learning opportunities that can help them participate fully in society and contribute to sustainable development. During the negotiation process, Member States welcomed the findings and recommendations of the UNESCO Director-General’s report on the implementation of education for sustainable development. This report emphasized the importance of global cooperation for SDG 4 and education for sustainable development. The UN Secretary-General is requested to submit a report on the implementation of the present resolution to the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session.