Transforming Education Summit: UNESCO rallies coalitions for change

The Transforming Education Summit, led by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has been convened in the wake of the largest disruption to education on record, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which set back progress on inclusion, quality and relevance even further.

UNESCO data shows that worldwide, 244M children and youth are still out of school. It is estimated that, globally, 6 out of every 10 children are unable to understand a simple text by the age of ten. In this context, the UN Sustainable Development Goal of quality education for all by 2030 (SDG4) is at risk of not being achieved.

At the same time, an unprecedented global consultation with over 1 million stakeholders led by UNESCO on the Futures of Education has demonstrated the urgent need to adapt education to the new challenges of the century. To respond to the climate disruption, the technological revolution, the resurgence of conflicts and social inequalities, education must also be transformed.

The Transforming Education Summit should be an accelerator of global mobilization, with the announcement by States of new strong commitments.

• All events will take place at UN Headquarters in New York
• Please find the programme here.

16 September 08.30-18.00 – Mobilization Day

Youth from the SDG4 Youth Network initiated by UNESCO will share their concerns, recommendations and aspirations with the UN Secretary-General, informed by the Summit Youth Declaration.

17 September 09.00-19.00 – Solutions Day

UNESCO is co-organizing 20 sessions involving ministers, civil society, UN agencies and private sector partners covering a range of themes: Education in emergencies and protracted crisis; green education; early childhood care and education; digital transformation, teachers, and data and monitoring.

19 September 08.30-19.00 – Leaders Day

At 10:00AM, Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General, Sahle-Work Zewde, President of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia and Chair of International Commission on Futures of Education, and Lachezara Stoeva, President of the Economic and Social Council, will deliver the opening speeches.

Then, UNESCO will co-lead 5 spotlight sessions, where coalitions and calls to action to transform education will be launched:

• 11:45 – 13:00:  A Partnership for Transformative Actions to protect and prioritize education in crisis situations.
• 13:15 – 14:45: Addressing the global learning crisis with foundational learning.
• 13:15 – 14:45: Greening Education Partnership: Getting every learner climate-ready. It sets goals for greening schools, integrating climate education in school curricula, training teachers in climate education and providing learning opportunities for adults on climate education.
• 13:15 – 14:45:  Gateways to Public Digital Learning initiative, to ensure access to learners, teachers and families to high-quality curriculum aligned digital education contents through open and free national learning platforms.
• 15:00 – 16:30: A Global Platform to Drive Leadership and Accountability for Gender Equality and Girls’ and Women’s Empowerment.

To build momentum, UNESCO hosted a Pre-Summit from 28 to 30 June 2022 that was attended by 154 education ministers and vice-ministers and 1,800 participants. It provided a forum for countries to present preliminary outcomes of the consultations and to have multilateral discussions on their new commitments.