By: Leonardo Garnier, Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General for the Transforming Education Summit
As millions of students around the world make their way back to their classrooms, the same old school is no longer fit for the future. COVID-19 has exposed deep fault lines in education systems that cannot be patched over by small improvements. There is a pressing need for transformation.
Recognizing the ripple effects of this crisis across generations and societies, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres convened the Transforming Education Summit to take place this September in New York. And earlier this summer, the Pre-Summit at UNESCO headquarters in Paris attracted 154 education ministers and vice-ministers and some 2,000 participants in an unprecedented show of support for a global movement on education.
Over the past six months, governments have been consulting widely with teachers, students, civil society and other partners to gather collective recommendations on the most urgent asks. These national consultations, organized in close to 150 countries, have been guided by UNESCO’s report on Reimagining our futures together that calls for a new social contract for education – one that is based on two critical propositions: quality education must be a right throughout life, and it must be treated as a public endeavour and a common good.
These consultations are forging national visions on how to make education the engine for more sustainable futures. They have encouraged critical reflection on the shortcomings and failures of current systems. Many are calling for profound transformations in pedagogical approaches; for a more rigorous understanding of the fundamentals – literacy, numeracy and scientific thinking – and of the values and skills required for living together, for promoting a sustainable development, and for living a full and meaningful life.
Why is transformation needed now?
Education is in crisis, and it is failing millions of children, at tremendous cost for their own lives and for our societies. We need to reimagine education to combat inequality, to ensure that all children gain foundational skills, to navigate the green and digital transitions and to better tackle youth unemployment. Taking on board the sobering lessons from the lockdown that brought education to a grinding halt for so many learners, there could be no better time to harness the power of the digital revolution, to chart a new course for connected learning for all, especially for those that have been so far excluded from education and to make sure that digital learning resources will be treated as a common public good.
Teachers will be critical for this transformation. We must support teachers to transform themselves, to become facilitators and guides for new ways of learning. Today, many teachers are undertrained, undervalued and underpaid. This has to change for education to change. Teachers need the skills, the recognition and respect and the remuneration they deserve. But they also need to assume the challenge of a different education, one based on curiosity and inquiry and not on preestablished answers; one based on collaborative problem solving; and centered on the learners.
And a key element of this transformation has to come from the recognition that ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all – as stated in SDG4 – is not only an ethical imperative, but also the best economic investment a country can make. To save in education, is to save in future income, to save in growth, but it is also to save in our capacity to live together in peace. Yes, investing in education is expensive, but it is much more expensive not to invest in education.
All countries must commit to transformation
To solve the seemingly unsolvable problem of how to finance education, low- and middle-income countries must assume a holistic and ambitious view and break free from the poverty trap. With an abundant supply of cheap labor – and natural resources – they tend to attract and promote the kind of investments that are profitable not because of their sophistication and increasing productivity, but because of the low cost of human and natural resources. In such context, there seems to be no urgency for an educated labor force and, thus, education appears as a mere expenditure and not as the true investment it is. Transforming education also means transforming the economies from the past, confronting poverty and inequality, and investing in people, so that future growth is brighter, more equitable, and sustainable.
At the Summit in September, and informed by their national consultations, world leaders will announce their national commitments to transforming education – which imply also their commitment to transform their countries. The Secretary General will also present his Vision Statement, based on the reflections collected through the whole summit process. These outcomes will also feed into the Summit of the Future, which will be a major milestone in the advancement of Our Common Agenda, the Secretary-General’s vision and roadmap for a more sustainable, resilient and peaceful future.
A global movement is in the making
As an immediate follow-up, the High-Level Steering Committee on SDG 4 will push forward the commitments emerging from the Summit. The United Nations as a whole, and all of its agencies and country teams, must play a key role in this follow up.
But even if important, that would not be enough.
For truly transforming education we need to ignite a global movement for education. We need action to expand the reach and the depth of education; to make schools safe, healthy and inclusive; to value and empower our teachers; to harness the digital revolution for the benefit of every teacher and learner, and action to unlock far greater financial commitments towards education.
We need the fire and determination of young people to protect, advance and transform education.
Young people are on the frontlines of education yet all too often, they are not genuinely included in the decisions that directly affect their education and development. That’s why the Pre-Summit Youth Forum and the Summit Mobilization Day were held as an intergenerational dialogue, so that politicians and policymakers could hear from young people themselves about the kind of education they want and deserve. That’s also why the Youth declaration will feed into the Summit, so that a record exists of young people’s call to action— their ideas in the present, as well as their desires for the future.
Let’s make this Summit a turning point in our promise to make education universal, resilient and transformative. Our common future depends on it.
Resources
UNESCO Reimagining Our Futures Together Report 2021
Setting commitments: National SDG 4 benchmarks to transform education
TES Pre-Summit Closing Press Release
COVID 19 has left huge gaps in learning and it needs concerted and coordinated efforts to bridge the gaps. The systems in place are not structured to deal with this unique eventuality called pandemic and complete transformation of the processes and structures is quintessential prerequisite to ensure learning recovery. Having served in education sector for decades in the developing world, I can say that it is a daunting and challenging task and it needs iron will and steel nerves both at political and professional level to prove equal to the task. The ideal model would be technical assistance by UN agencies and financing by the National governments topped up by development partners with shared monitoring and evaluation of the initiatives and achievements on the roadmap on the educational landscape of national and sub national governments.