Excellencies, Distinguished guests, Dear Colleagues,
It is a pleasure to be here with you all to commemorate the African Union’s Year of Education.
As the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and the massive disruption it caused, we were faced with an exacerbated education crisis. A crisis of exclusion, of quality and of relevance. A crisis made worse by stagnating investments by national governments, as well as the international community.
It was in this context that the Secretary-General called for the Transforming Education Summit.
The Summit was a landmark moment that was borne out of a realization that the education of yesterday was simply not up to task to respond to the needs of today and of tomorrow.
It succeeded in elevating education on the global agenda, in mobilizing greater commitment to deliver SDG4 at the country-level and in expanding the global movement for a reimagined education.
The Summit led to several important initiatives, calls to action and national statements of commitment by over 140 countries, more than 40 of which are from Africa. It led to the creation of the SG’s High-Level Panel on Teachers, which earlier this year produced specific, actionable recommendations on transforming teaching as well as the teaching profession. I hope that we are all heeding these recommendations, as we devise policies and draft legislation.
Importantly, it also led to the African Union’s declaration of 2024 as its year of education. A truly momentous decision. It represents a significant opportunity to highlight the importance of education within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals as well as Agenda 2063.
This is important because when it comes to investing in education, our continent offers significant returns. African youth are poised to expand our continents and the world’s economic productivity. Within the next ten years, every third new entrant into the global workforce will be African.
At the same time the proliferation of digital technologies, like Artificial Intelligence, offers an opportunity to leapfrog the many constraints we face when pursuing the traditional pathways of development.
Investing in education now will help achieve broader development goals.
Despite progress in the last two decades in increasing access to education in the region, there is still a lot to do. Close to 100 million children are out of school in Sub-Saharan Africa. Primary school completion rates are below 70%, which drops to 50% for girls. Africa needs an additional 15 million teachers in the classroom to achieve SDG targets by 2030.
As you continue your journey, the UN system – UNESCO, UNICEF, UNECA, the RC system – stands poised to support you, through technical support as well as programme funding. This support will focus on digital transformation, entrepreneurship and jobs, inclusion and equity, and data and accountability, along with the traditional models of multilateral support which are focused on classrooms and curricula.
Excellencies, ,
Today, exactly two years after the Transforming Education Summit, we stand at an important inflection point.
With our new Pact of the Future, you have renewed your commitment to the Goals including SDG4. With this rejuvenated focus on the SDGs we will proceed to the Global Education Meeting next month in Brazil; on to Financing for Development in Madrid (FFD4) and then the World Summit for Social Development in Qatar (WSSD2). As we do this, we must not lose sight of the work of actually delivering change.
While we must keep pushing education to the forefront of the global stage through our advocacy, our efforts must also be aimed at delivering effective education policy changes at the regional, national and sub-national level.
We must take concrete actions on the ground for a prosperous and growing Africa. We must transform and tailor teaching, curricula, and classrooms to the needs of young people and the demands of the modern world. We must harness technology, where possible to leapfrog the constraints that we may face in delivering the traditional model of education.
Excellencies,
In simple terms, we must deliver on education today, so a new generation of entrepreneurs, innovators and leaders can emerge in the years to come.
I look forward to hearing about your discussions and follow-up actions as you move forward on the journey to transform education. Your motivation to face the crisis in education in meaningful and concrete ways is a source of hope for all of us.
Thank you.
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