The United Nations(UN)’s International Day of Education is annually observed on 24th January to celebrate the role of education for peace and development.
The annual celebration of this day is organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in partnership with partners like Global Partnership for Education and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies (CRI).
The theme of the 3rd International day of Education is “Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation”.
Aim:
- To highlight the commitment and follow up actions towards protecting the education through the recovery, increase inclusion and combat drop-outs.
- To highlight the best practices in law and policies on equitable finance for education that targets the disadvantaged through the tools featured on the Global Education Monitoring Report website of UNESCO.
- To encourage the COVID-19 generation to voice out their concerns and aspirations in the face of the future with economic recession and climate change.
Background:
On 3rd December 2018, the United Nations General Assembly(UNGA) adopted the resolution A/RES/73/25 co-authored by Nigeria and 58 other member states and proclaimed the 24th January as the International Day of Education.
The first International Day of Education was observed on 24th January 2019.
Events 2021:
The events to celebrate the 3rd International day of Education by UNESCO on 25th January 2021 at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris and New York. Learning Planet Festival will be celebrated to reveal the potential of every learner.
The global events have been planned as 3 segments, they are:
- Learning Heroes
- Innovations
- Financing
Education and Sustainable Development:
The international community recognised that Education as an essential to achieve all the 17 goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Sustainable development Goal 4 aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030.
Rights to education:
The article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights lays down the right to education, which calls for free and compulsory elementary education.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted in 1989 specified that the countries should ensure that higher education is accessible to all.
