Thousands of youth campaigners from more than 100 countries are sending powerful and passionate messages to Heads of State and Government attending an education summit at the United Nations in two weeks - calling on them to end the education crisis.
Around the world young people are sharing video testimonies using the hashtag #LetMeLearn and calling on leaders to tackle exclusion, ensure gender equality, transform the teaching profession, renew curricula and end the digital divide.
24-year-old Aksheyaa in India shared “I am a person with learning disabilities and the education system made me think I was the problem”. In her video Elizabeth in the UK said "what angers me most about education is the lack of mental health support for students and young people.” 28-year-old Emmanual Gyan in Ghana said “We don’t have access to internet” and 28-year-old Maria Fernanda in Colombia: “I’m concerned that special education is not being considered a priority”.
Survey findings highlight an education crisis
The results of a global survey of 10,000 young people from all over the world Today’s found that education systems are failing an entire generation of children and leaving them unprepared for the future.
The survey, commissioned by global children’s organization Theirworld, paints an alarming picture of the state of education across the world. It shows that:
- 77% of young people are “worried” by the prospect of poor education leaving millions of children without basic reading or writing skills by 2030
- 69% say world leaders are not doing enough to ensure all children receive a quality education
- 88% think leaders need to take urgent action to fund education
Education was in crisis even before the pandemic, with nearly 260 million children out of school – the majority of whom are girls. In rich and poor countries alike, millions more are in school but let down by a lack of support for teachers, outdated curricula and a lack of digital connectivity.
More people are saying LetMeLearn
That’s why the #LetMeLearn campaign is gaining momentum, with high engagement on social media from 116 countries, including youth networks and organizations, who are demanding that world leaders attending the Transforming Education Summit (TES) take urgent action to ensure every child has access to a quality education. #LetMeLearn, backed by the United Nations and a wide network of civil society partners across the world, calls for the voices of passionate young people to be heard by international decision-makers attending the historic Summit at the United Nations in New York.
Leaders at the summit will be making decisions on how much to invest, how to spend the investment and how to transform education.
“Let Me Learn is a campaign to make sure world leaders attending the TES pay attention to the voices and opinions of learners,” says UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “Through this campaign, the diverse experiences and views of young people and lifelong learners everywhere will feed into the discussions, decisions and outcomes of the summit.
"I pledge to listen, learn, discuss and act on the views and experiences shared through the campaign - and to encourage world leaders to do the same."
Gordon Brown, the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, is also backing the campaign. “I have been listening to young people and they all have one single message: #LetMeLearn,” he said. “It is it time that we take this message seriously and bring their message to the halls of the United Nations.”
Despite the crisis in education, young people remain optimistic, with 83% believing that youth can change the world through campaigning and making their voices heard.
Nhial Deng, a 23-year-old South Sudanese student and activist, was born in Ethiopia. After his village was attacked by an armed militia, he spent 11 years in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp.
“When I fled my home 11 years ago, the first thing that came to my mind after arriving in the Kakuma refugee camp was school,” he says. “I knew that school was the only way where I could make my childhood dream of becoming a journalist a reality.
“Although I was traumatized by the brutal images of war I witnessed while fleeing my country, the school gave me a safe space where I could heal from my trauma and think about a glowing future again.” Deng is now a Global Youth Ambassador for Theirworld.
Young people all over the world have been holding grassroots consultations to harness the voices of their communities ahead of the Youth Declaration to be made at the TES. Their resounding response is that transformation is needed. UNESCO SDG4Youth Network representative Sofia Bermudez facilitated such a consultation in Argentina. She found that one of the clearest calls from learners was for a holistic approach, taking into account not only students’ academic performance but their mental health.
“The decisions world leaders make at the TES will affect the lives of hundreds of millions of children around the world and reverberate through every community on the planet,” says Theirworld President Justin van Fleet.
“Global education is facing a crisis of equity, quality and relevance. Currently, education is a privilege, not a right, and denied to children based on factors beyond their control at birth. It’s time for world leaders to listen to young people and take the action today. Time is running out and inaction is not an option.”
