The world is facing an alarming education crisis. Without immediate action, over half of the upcoming youth generation – 825 million of the 1.6 billion young people in 2030 – will be left behind and shut out of opportunity through education, failing on the promise of SDG4. The costs of this crisis – unemployment, poverty, inequality, instability – and the skills gap will stunt economic growth, with social, security and political repercussions.
Meanwhile more than 260 million children and adolescents are not in school at all, and many more are in school and not learning. Only 1 in 12 young people in low-income countries will be on track to gain secondary level skills. Despite some progress in reaching gender equality, in the worlds’ poorest countries, girls are still denied an education more than boys.
Current levels of investment in education are critically low. To reach the Sustainable Development Goals for quality education (SDG4) global spending on education must rise annually from $1.2 trillion per year to $3 trillion by 2030. If we do not act urgently, we are likely to miss the 2030 deadline for these goals by more than 50 years.
This year’s UN General Assembly (UNGA) presents a vital window of opportunity to reposition education at the center of the political agenda, a key tool in the prevention of crises and instability, and as a cross-cutting solution to the pressing social, economic and political challenges facing the world and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.
The event is co-hosted by the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of France, the Republic of Malawi and the Republic of Senegal. The organizing partners are: Education Commission, Global Partnership for Education, Malala Fund, ONE, UNICEF, UNESCO.
Watch a video recording of the event:
Participants:
- H.E. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres
- H.E. UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed
- H.E. President Emmanuel Macron, Republic of France
- H.E. President Peter Mutharika, Republic of Malawi
- H.E. President Macky Sall, Republic of Senegal
- H.E. Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Kingdom of Norway
- Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth
- Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education
- Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Laureate and UN Messenger of Peace
- Julia Gillard, Chair, Global Partnership for Education