On this International Youth Day, we’d like to celebrate the power of youth voices and recognize the nearly 400 young people from 61 countries who created videos to share their ideas about the future of education for the Education Youth Video Challenge.
Launched by the Education Commission and supported by MTV Voices and the Global Youth Ambassadors of A World At School, the Education Youth Video Challenge asked young people from around the world aged 13 to 30 to submit 30-second videos that address two questions: How can education best prepare you for the future? and What would your ideal school of the future look like?
UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of the Education Commission, Gordon Brown said, “From Syria to South Africa, young people are directly affected by our efforts to ensure quality education for all and it is absolutely vital that we engage them in the work of the Education Commission. The Education Youth Video Challenge gave us an opportunity to crowd-source ideas about the future of education from the world’s most creative resource–our youth. Each and every one of us is determined to do all in our power to help the world reach the ambitious new Sustainable Development Goals, particularly for education.”
From Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, Brazil to Vietnam, young people put their creative talents to good use and produced videos that share diverse ideas about why education matters and the critical need to make quality education accessible to all. Entries range from selfie-style videos shot on cellphones to hand-drawn animations to polished productions from budding filmmakers. Whatever the format, one thing is clear – young people see education as the key to a brighter, more peaceful future. Their videos make passionate calls for inclusion, creativity, innovation, harnessing technology, supporting teachers, fostering values and mindsets, global citizenship, tolerance, and educational opportunity for all.
The public voting period for the People’s Choice Award ended on July 15th and two videos–one by Grace Sameve from Indonesia and the other by Gustavo Santana from Brazil–garnered well over 5000 votes each. Both have been named winners of the People’s Choice Award and will receive a GoPro video camera.
Grace starts her personal testimonial video with a cheerful Indonesian greeting and says that an ideal education is “one that provides every individual the best-fit support to learn, to understand, accept and grow to be the best version of oneself.”
Gustavo’s entry, a lyrical animated video with beautiful graphics, proposes that “quality education shall provide equal opportunities, respecting singularities of every youngster in discovering their skills. It shall develop citizens for life, who are complete and capable to deal with the world with responsibility, inquiring skills and creativity.”
The Education Commission’s Youth Panel alongside Beth Garrod, Director of International Social Responsibility at Viacom and Ahmad Alhendawi, United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, are serving as the competition jury to select additional winning videos. The Grand Prize Winner will receive an invitation to New York for the screening of his/her video at the Commission’s report launch during the UN General Assembly on September 18, 2016. Second prize is an iPad mini and third prize is an HP Chromebook computer.
Listen to more of these inspiring youth voices from around the globe here.