International day of education

The 24th of January is commemorated each year as International Day of Education in recognition of the role of education for peace and development.

Education is very important to sustainable development of people and society and it will be near impossible for nations to thrive in the absence of inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong opportunities for all. Also, it will be difficult for countries to achieve gender equality and be able to break the poverty cycle that threatens the proper development of millions of children, young people and adults, leaving them further behind without quality education.

The rights to quality and affordable education of millions of children and young people are being violated across the globe and according to reports, as of today, 258 million children and youth still do not attend school; 617 million children and adolescents cannot read and do basic math; less than 40% of girls in sub-Saharan Africa complete lower secondary school and some four million children and youth refugees are out of school.

Unfortunately,the COVID-19 pandemic has had and continues to affect educational systems worldwide, leading to the near-total closures of schools, early childhood education and care services, universities and colleges and as of 12 January 2021, approximately 825 million learners were affected due to school closures in response to the pandemic. Sadly,children,poor students, students with disabilities and those from marginalized backgrounds are the ones highly affected.

The pandemic not only affected education and educational systems, but the impact on health resulted in multiple chain reactions like food insecurity, compromised nutrition,childcare problems, increased domestic violence,diminished family income among other community and societal effects affecting more than 1.7 billion learners, including 99% of students in low and lower-middle income countries according to the United Nations.

While we celebrate this year’s International day of education, we need to understand that we cannot continue to do things as we used to and that drastic measures need to be taken if we expect to see change. This includes following up on the advice of UNESCO to rethink education, and forging a new social contract for education that is geared towards fixing the problems we currently face in our educational systems and the digital orientation of our education systems through the lense of inclusion and equity.

In adherence to the theme for the year “Changing Course, Transforming Education” , we must put in strong measures and efforts to build back better, revamp and put our education systems back on track while looking at not just formal education but informal and non-formal education as well.

IFM-SEI believes that through non-formal education, we can build skilled, critical and innovative thinkers that are empowered to drive positive change in the world. Non-formal education has the capacity to shape children and young people into global citizens, providing solutions to global challenges through local initiatives and in solidarity with one another.

As we mark this day, let us look critically at the loopholes in our educational systems and work towards bridging the gaps for a more transformational and sustainable future for children and young people.
Happy International day of education.