International Day of Education – UN Secretary-General’s message<\/p>\n
New York, 24 Janaury 2022<\/p>\n
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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused chaos in education worldwide.<\/p>\n
Some 1.6 billion school and college students had their studies interrupted at the peak of the pandemic — and it\u2019s not over yet.<\/p>\n
Today, school closures continue to disrupt the lives of over 31 million students, exacerbating a global learning crisis.<\/p>\n
Unless we take action, the share of children leaving school in developing countries who are unable to read could increase from 53 to 70 percent.<\/p>\n
But the turmoil in education goes beyond questions of access and inequality.<\/p>\n
Our world is changing at a dizzying pace, with technological innovation, unprecedented changes in the world of work, the onset of the climate emergency, and a widespread loss of trust between people and institutions.<\/p>\n
Conventional education systems are struggling to deliver the knowledge, skills and values we need to create a greener, better and safer future for all.<\/p>\n
Education is a preeminent public good, and an essential enabler for the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.<\/p>\n
The international community cannot afford to be agnostic about its provision, quality and relevance.<\/p>\n
That is why I am convening a Summit on Transforming Education later this year.<\/p>\n
The time has come to reignite our collective commitment to education.<\/p>\n
That means investing in comprehensive plans to help students recover from learning losses.<\/p>\n
It means putting education at the heart of broader recovery efforts, aimed at transforming economies and societies and accelerating progress on sustainable development.<\/p>\n
It means financial solidarity with developing countries.<\/p>\n
And it means embarking on a process of reflection and analysis to identify how national education systems can evolve and transform between now and 2030.<\/p>\n
The Summit on Transforming Education will be the first time that world leaders, young people and all education stakeholders come together to consider these fundamental questions.<\/p>\n
On this International Day of Education, and as we prepare for the Summit later this year, I call on everyone to unite around education as a public good and a top political priority for the recovery and beyond.<\/p>\n
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