International Day of Education 2023: Education must be prioritized to accelerate progress towards the Global Goals

According to the latest data, an estimated 244 million children and youth worldwide are not in school, 763 million young people and adults are illiterate, and fewer than 5 per cent of the population aged 15-plus participate in adult education in almost one-third of countries across the globe. Their right to education is being violated.

To mark this year’s International Day of Education on 24 January, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) is calling on the international community to increase efforts to promote a universal right to education, regardless of age, background or geographical location.

With over half of humanity currently living in cities and an estimated two-thirds of the population expected to reside in urban areas by 2050, local communities are key to ensuring lifelong learning opportunities are available to all by 2030.

As UIL Director David Atchoarena notes, 'Against the backdrop of a global recession, growing inequalities and the climate crisis, lifelong learning must be prioritized to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Only lifelong education, starting in the earliest years in life, can break the cycle of poverty, improve health outcomes, prepare people for decent jobs with opportunities to reskill and upskill, and mitigate climate change. We must drastically scale-up our efforts and translate commitments into actions! UNESCO learning cities across the globe prove we can make this happen.'

Investing in people at the local level

In line with this year’s International Day of Education theme, ‘Invest in people; prioritize education’, 294 UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) have positioned lifelong learning at the top of their agendas, thereby advancing inclusive learning from early childhood to the third age. By mobilizing resources across diverse sectors to live up to the international commitment of providing everyone with an opportunity to learn throughout life, UNESCO GNLC members celebrate lifelong learning and demonstrate how local communities fulfil the global commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals.

To mark this year’s International Day of Education, UNESCO learning cities from around the world will host local events to celebrate the power of lifelong learning. Among the many activities that are planned, the City of Vinh (Viet Nam) will host a writing competition on the benefits of lifelong learning; the mayors of the Irish network of learning cities will present their lifelong learning activities in a joint message to the wider public; learners and educators from Kilifi County (Kenya) will raise their hands to extol learning across the entire lifespan; La Matanza County (Argentina) will showcase its technology trainings for older adults; and the Municipality of Elefsina (Greece) will present its lifelong learning programmes for local people of all ages. 

Republished from UNESCO