International Day of Education 2023 Highlights Need to “Invest In People, Prioritize Education”
Today, the world celebrates International Day of Education, an annual recognition of the role of education for peace and development.
This year’s theme is “invest in people, prioritize education,” and the day is dedicated to girls and women in Afghanistan who have been deprived of their right to education.
Education is a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and also plays an important role in progress toward all other SDGs. However, education worldwide is in crisis:
- 6 out of 10 children cannot read and understand a simple story at age 10
- 244 million children and youth are out of school
- Displacement due to conflict and climate change disrupt education for too many children
This year’s International Day of Education comes ahead of Education Cannot Wait’s High-Level Financing Conference, which seeks to grow a coalition of governments, multilateral agencies, and civil society actors to build a world where all children and adolescents affected by crises can learn free of cost, in safety and without fear.
For more than 130 years, Childhood Education International has been advancing education because of our belief in the importance of investing in people and prioritizing education. We believe that children are not only our hope for the future but also the strength of our present.
As we call on world leaders to invest in education, CE International continues to support quality education for all children worldwide. Some of our recent actions to prioritize education include:
Teacher Professional Development
Teachers are critical to quality education. For this reason, CE International works to provide locally contextualized resources and training opportunities that enable educators to grow, learn, and share as they build strong education systems and learning opportunities.
Teachers who work in displacement settings, such as refugee camps, may find it particularly challenging to access professional development opportunities. Recently, the Center for Professional Development released a report on Digital Teacher Professional Development in Education in Displacement Settings and hosted a webinar on the report’s findings. The Center for Professional Development also launched an Open Educational Resource (OER) Library featuring professional development materials in English, French, and Arabic that were co-created with educators who work in displacement contexts.
Education Diplomacy
If we are to make progress toward our goals for transforming education, it is important to involve a wide range of sectors and utilize skills such as negotiation and collaboration.
Our Education Diplomacy approach combines fundamental concepts and practices from diplomacy, international relations, and education leadership and management to facilitate collaboration among diverse stakeholders and advance access to quality education for all.
CE International recently co-hosted a webinar with the International Centre for Protocol and Diplomacy that focused on Transforming Education Through Diplomacy.
Inclusive Education & Social-Emotional Learning
As we invest in people and prioritize education, our work also focuses on building inclusive and equitable education systems.
CE International recently became the new host organization for the Early Childhood Development Task Force (ECDtf), a global forum of volunteer professionals and family members who share and discuss critical and cutting-edge information and resources focused on the inclusion of young children with developmental delays and disabilities, promoting their full potential and equitable participation in all aspects of their lives.
We are working on inclusive education projects in Serbia and recently completed one in Côte d’Ivoire. The Center for Professional Learning is undertaking initiatives in Ukraine that support the well-being of educators and offer professional learning opportunities related to areas such as social-emotional learning and trauma-informed practice.
Several educators in Ukraine share their experience with the importance of education as we commemorate International Day of Education: Lina Siranchuk, a 2nd grade teacher; Nataliia Antonenko, an ESL teacher at Rivne State University; Olha Sushkevych, Ph.D., Associate Professor; Tetiana Konovalenko, Ph.D, Associate Professor of Department of Germanic Languages Teaching Methodology, Vice-Rector in Research, Bogdan Khmelnitsky Melitopol State Pedagogical University; and Zhanna Pyshchyk, a preschool teacher.
Ways to Take Part in International Day of Education
Join these events and others:
- UNESCO – International Day of Education: To invest in people, prioritize education
- Education in Emergencies: A Global Call for 222 Million Children
- Global Partnership for Education – Raise Your Hand Live! On International Education Day (happening live on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn)
Use this #LeadingSDG4 filter to share your support for investing in education on social media.