24 January 2023
Thank you very much, Arora.
I will be very, very happy to take it myself and share it with Member States in different forms.
Dear Colleagues, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I heard you had a very rich and very moving discussions today so I understand that you need two PGAs to close it down.
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn,” as the saying goes.
I thank UNESCO and the Group of Friends for Education for involving us in today’s observance – and keeping the door open for our collective learning.
Your commitment to education today is more important than ever, as we prepare for the SDG Summit in September on the theme of investing in people.
Dear Friends,
Today, we could hear your calls to prioritize investment in education, as we just heard from Arora, and strengthen the capacities to collect and use educational data for evidence-based policymaking.
To ensure that education systems are more inclusive and resilient.
We heard your agreement that all children have the right to education – whether they live in peace, in conflict areas or in displacement settings.
It saddens me to acknowledge that the state of education today is far from acceptable:
Six out of 10 children around the world cannot read at age 10.
Millions of children affected by conflict are deprived of schooling.
As we heard today, in many instances, in Afghanistan, 80% of young women and girls are out of school, banned by the Taliban from receiving an education.
With their human rights denied, their futures destroyed, their dreams shattered, there are no more freedoms left to take from them.
I repeat the Secretary-General’s warning that this conduct risks turning Afghanistan into a “gender apartheid society.”
Are we to stand by and watch?
Last week, DSG Amina Mohamed, my good friend, visited Kabul, assuring the women and girls of Afghanistan that we are doing all we can to support the fulfilment of their right to education.
It is a message I strongly affirm today.
More broadly, I encourage Member States to ensure that humanitarian and development assistance includes the education of children and adolescents.
Dear Colleagues, Excellencies,
SDG 4 sets the bar high for achieving quality education for all children and youth by 2030.
As the midpoint approaches, we should accurately know how our societies are faring.
This is why I welcome the launch today of UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report.
It measures country progress in meeting SDG 4 benchmarks, including those discussed at the Transformation Education Summit last September.
I look back to the Summit’s Youth Mobilization Day as one of the most inspiring events of my Presidency.
Young people came up with many ideas how to find new pathways for learning.
The Youth Declaration established their ownership of efforts to transform education in a rapidly changing world.
Today, I am really honoured to receive the Open Letter from Youth Leaders.
I echo their call for the decision-makers of the world to urgently “walk the talk” and invest in global education transformation.
Youth Advocate Arora announced today the launch of the Global Youth Initiative.
It will bring young people together to advance the recommendations of the Youth Declaration and serve as an engine for maintaining transformative change.
“We are facing an education emergency,” Malala reminded us in the General Assembly last year. “You must use the power you have to take action.”
I will.
Let us take this to heart.
Let us all support teachers and politicians in making education truly transformative.
Thank you, Arora. Thank you all, Ladies and Gentlemen.
