Education is every child’s number one priority; It should be ours as well
At the dawn of a new decade, we have just 10 years left to achieve the Agenda 2030. Yet millions of children around the world are not learning what they need to contribute to a more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. Unless we make transforming education systems our number one priority, we will be 80 years too late to achieve this goal.
In November 2019, I met a group of young South Sudanese refugees in a school on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda. Haltingly, they told me about their experiences fleeing their homes and seeking refuge in a foreign place. When I asked them how they felt about being able to go to school again, though, their eyes brightened and out tumbled their hopes and dreams. Like millions of children and young people around the world, education is their number one priority for the future.
It would be easy to assume that education is our global priority, as well. After all, it is a country’s greatest investment in the future. Education has a ripple effect on almost every aspect of development. An educated population is healthier, more productive, more peaceful, and more capable of tackling the great challenges facing our planet, including climate change. This effect is particularly powerful when we educate girls. If every girl in the world received 12 years of education, infant mortality would be cut in half, and the global economy would rise by as much as US $30 trillion. In our interconnected world, these benefits know no borders or boundaries. Education is the cornerstone of a better future for us all.
So it’s alarming that today, 260 million children are still not in school. It’s even more alarming that millions of children who are in school are not learning. More than half the world’s children are unable to read and understand a simple story by age 10. If we continue with business as usual, half the next generation won’t have the skills they need to harness the opportunities of the 21st century. In fact, at current rates of progress, it will be 2111 – well into the 22nd century – by the time the poorest girls in the world can expect to complete 10 years of basic schooling. That’s 80 years after the deadline to meet the Sustainable Development Goals expires.
We urgently need to recognise and prioritise the global learning crisis, and mobilise the resources and political will to get education back on track. Yet education is all but invisible on the world stage. Aid spending on education has been stagnant for nearly a decade, despite a global funding gap of $39 billion. Clearly, that must change.
However, it’s not just a case of investing more money, when business as usual is not working. That’s why the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) supports governments to transform education at systems level, where the impact of change can reach all children.
We are uniquely placed to do this. As a partnership, we mobilize global expertise to identify solutions at country-level, tackle challenges holistically and reduce fragmentation. As a fund, we channel investments to where they will have a catalytic effect to improve learning – be it investing in teacher training, creating conditions for girls to get to and stay in school, distributing textbooks, or modernizing data to drive evidence-based decisions.
Our unique approach gets results. In our partner countries, 77 million more children are in school today than when we began in 2002, including 41 million girls. Our success demonstrates what we all know to be true: that only by working in partnership can we tackle the challenge ahead.
With the clock ticking for millions of children around the world, we need to stop investing in business as usual. GPE has long counted on the UK as a champion for global education, particularly for educating girls. Now more than ever, we need such leadership to make transforming education systems our number one priority for 2030. Millions of children cannot afford to wait an additional 80 years, and neither can we.
Article from Engage Issue 20.
BY ALICE ALBRIGHT CEO OF THE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION. • June 17, 2021
The UNESCO UK Associated Schools Programme Network (ASPnet) Seeds of Hope for a Better Future project supports UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals and ASPnet’s key action areas - promoting peace, sustainability and intercultural learning and heritage, especially in the context of the challenges of climate change. The 2025 Competition seeks to inspire young people and key partners (educators, artists, scientists and others) to work together to create legacy arts and culture projects for the benefit of local, national and international communities and to reflect the importance of protecting and improving the bio-diversity of seeds against the impact of climate change. Young people and their partners are asked to create Seeds of Hope art works/stories in partnership with others. (see: Seeds of Hope for a Better Future – Part 1: Creating Seeds of Hope Stories ) (see also Kew resource links ) . Competition Brief “Imagine you are a seed." Create an artwork that describes your value – as a seed – to the world and your geographical origins. Art works should tell the story about how you – as a seed – must adapt to survive because local weather patterns and conditions have changed and are beginning to make your life perilous. The competition brief above is just an idea to inspire you, you may have another idea of how to interpret Seeds of Hope for a Better Future and share your work. The competition seeks to encourage and inspire young people and their partners to use a range of artistic expressions to create impactful arts and culture legacy projects for the benefit of others. Artwork examples could include: Art works, which can be a gallery exhibition or community art work for long-term display in a prominent outdoor space/public indoor area, and/or a touring exhibition. Illustrated poems/short stories as the focus of presentation for local poetry/story festivals or widely circulated through a variety of print media, such as books/flip books, posters, leaflets or other graphic formats. Digital illustrations using photography/film/animation circulated through social and other public media formats or exhibitions. Performance and/or installation art, such as a young people’s play/opera/musical theatre/dance/installation art/sculpture park. All artwork making a positive contribution to the project’s mission, aims and objectives will be received and shared via the UNESCO ASPnet National Coordinators. About Participation - PARTICIPATION FORM If you are interested in entering the competition, we cordially invite you to consult the Competition Rules and Guidelines and to contact your UNESCO ASPnet National Coordinator for further guidance about participating. PARTICIPATION FORM Good luck everyone! We look forward to seeing how your seeds of inspiration will help communities grow…!
Haiti, 1986 With the end of the brutal, US supported, Duvalier regime, 3500 base communities emerged through Ti Legliz (little church). This was Haiti’s own version of the liberation theology which arose in Latin America and similarly addressed social, political and economic justice for their marginalized populations. With Haiti’s illiteracy rate of at least 80%, Ti Legliz organized Alfabetizasyon, literacy programmes in Haitian Creole based on the work of Paolo Freire, the Brazilian educator and activist. In Haiti, Ti Legliz developed an indigenous text, Goute Sel (a taste of salt) focused on the lives of rural peasants and raising up their critical concerns. Teams of community activists led the classes and discussions. Inevitably, the macoutes and military junta who followed the departure of the Duvaliers did not tolerate these programmes. Community leaders were assassinated or went into hiding, materials were destroyed. Following the lost chance of democracy with President Aristide, lost through ongoing US interference, government corruption, outright coups and military occupations, Haiti continues to suffer from the highest rate of poverty and illiteracy in this hemisphere. In 2002 a local project for adult literacy was launched in Limonade, a commune in the Nord department of Haiti. Chancy Jak, a local human rights lawyer and activist, was encouraged by a Creolist from Indiana University. They began with a single class of market women. Chancy gradually built a team of community organizers to extend the programme. An old copy of Goute Sel was rescued and continues to be the basic text for all Alfa classes. Literally translated, Goute Sel means a taste of salt. Numerous references from the Bible have been used to explain this title. However, it is better understood through the Voudou belief that a taste of salt will revive the half dead. Alfa uses the power of literacy to awaken those whose basic human rights have been denied, whose lives are deadened. Despite their unique revolutionary history, Haitians continue to suffer the ongoing effects of colonialism and neocolonialism. Alfa now has 11 sites beyond Limonade. Classes are meeting up in the hills, along the river and out on the coast. Where they cannot borrow a classroom or a little chapel, everyone works together to build a simple shelter. Women and men who were denied any education, who had never held a pencil, are writing. They are reading, manipulating numbers, and questioning history. And they know their rights and responsibilities as citizens. Kofi Annan said, “Literacy is a human right with immense power to transform. It is a bridge from misery to hope. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy, and sustainable human development.” Alfa has a small but committed support group based in the US Midwest. We believe that literacy lies at the root of our human identity and that for every person it can provide dignity and a means of control for how we live. We, Chancy Jak and his team, and all Alfa participants, continue to be affirmed and strengthened by our ongoing partnership with the Steve Sinnott Foundation. Alfabetizasyon se chemen devlopman Literacy is the path to development
I welcomed the opportunity to volunteer in Cambodia, training teachers in Phnom Penh and Preah Vihear in February 2025. Cambodian teachers typically start working in schools after graduating high school (aged 18 or 19 years), They have little or no formal training, but are supported by experienced school staff. It was a delight to train these enthusiastic and conscientious young teachers whose goal is to educate their pupils (from poor families) to a high standard, so that they have career and higher education choices. We worked as a small team of three volunteers, supported by the Serve Cambodia staff. Training topics included practical science teaching, arts and craft inspired by ‘Seeds For Hope’ (UNESCO ASPnet), the attributes of a good teacher, assessment, listening skills, building relationships and lesson planning. Thank you, The Steve Sinnott Foundation for the excellent Relationship Resources for primary and secondary schools. Teachers particularly enjoyed the role play activities as they developed their skills to build positive relationships. An informative and helpful practical First Aid session was presented by Penny and Anthony Clarke I enjoyed working with such admirable young teachers and know that they will put their training to good use in the classroom. I have already received photos of their pupils enthralled by their first practical science lessons and proud of their art works. Thank you, Mission Direct for this wonderful opportunity to contribute to the quality of education in Cambodia. You can check out the resources here www.stevesinnottfoundation.org.uk/resources
