NEW YORK, Sep 19 (APP): Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar Monday here underlined the need for affirmative measures at the national, regional and international level to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for girls.
She was delivering a statement on behalf of G77 and China at the “Transforming Education Summit 2022” at the United Nations.
She called for adoption and strengthening of sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.
“Girls education must be funded and their families supported through social protection systems by member states.”
Hina said, “As we gather here today, millions are held back from learning and living a life of dignity and empowerment. Education is at crossroads. COVID-19, conflict, poverty, climate change, natural disasters and gender inequality are reversing progress and widening inequalities.”
“Even before the pandemic, over half of the world’s children and youth were either out of school or in school and not learning. During the pandemic, more than 1.6 billion children and youth – nearly the entire world’s population – had their education disrupted. The scale and speed of this disruption was unparalleled, and the worst impact has been felt in the developing world. COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the learning crisis, with school closures, lost learning hours, and increased dropout rates.”
She reminded that today, only 45% of learners receive pre-primary education in low-income countries compared with 91% children in high-income countries.
“Before the pandemic, 73 million children in 60 countries, primarily in the developing world, were living in extreme poverty, food insecurity and hunger. Unfortunately, post-pandemic conditions have worsened these inequalities in many geographical regions.”
She said the goal four of sustainable development to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, was a crosscutting objective.
“In many countries, unilateral coercive measures roadblock its achievement, because they impact on the availability of resources for development. We must address the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on education efforts. We reaffirm our rejection to the imposition of laws and regulations with extraterritorial impact and all other forms of coercive economic measures, including unilateral sanctions, against developing countries and we reiterate the urgent need to eliminate them immediately.”
“To transform education, we have to first identify and understand the causal factors, and the roadblocks preventing progress towards education systems which are truly inclusive and equitable. “
She said once the problems were identified, there was a need to make strong commitments and undertake concrete actions. G77 and China would like to propose transformative actions.
The minister said there was a widening gap between the current state of education and prospective targets.
“To truly transform education, there is an urgent need to garner political will, international cooperation and solidarity and leadership in order to tackle underdevelopment, promote sustainable development and implement high-impact, evidence-based and cost-effective interventions to deliver transformative education for all. The institutional structures of the education system need to be revisited and redesigned to be more resilient and to allow learners to achieve their full potential. In this regard, it is critical to realize the right to education and make education a common public good.”
She emphasized that inclusive recovery from the pandemic required building resilient education systems.
“In this regard, accelerated education, a focus on quality, bridging programmes, and universal access to digital learning platforms, are part of the solution. In particular, recovery from COVID 19 requires huge amount of investment in all aspects of education, including in further building capacity of teachers, expanding digital learning and strengthening institutions. Innovations that were introduced during and due to the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate pockets of learning gains should be shared and upscaled.”
“Digital connectivity and access to digital tools and equipment are now a necessary stepping stone towards an effective and modern education experience. Tens of millions in the developing world are without requisite hardware such as smartphones, laptops, or personal computers and internet connectivity. This digital divide is widening. Almost half the world’s population, 3.7 billion people, the majority of them in developing countries, are still offline.”
In the education sector, although online-learning had become an integral component of education, huge disparities still remained in terms of access to digital resources, she noted and stressed that the international community must mobilize resources to close the digital divide between and within countries and develop digital solutions that ensure the full and equal participation of all learners and harness the potential of technologies for inclusion. “We take note with interest of the Secretary General’s proposal of Global Digital Compact as part of the Pact for the Future, and we will participate constructively in its intergovernmental negotiation to ensure that it addresses the needs of the Global South in this regard.”
Hina Khar said, “inclusion and transformation in education must ensure that we prioritize education as a fundamental pillar of policy at all levels. The governments will ultimately have to take the lead. Therefore, in our way forward, the role of Member States remains central in considering and discussing, through intergovernmental processes, global initiatives, processes and instruments to transform education.
There is also a need to develop legislation and implement policies that protect right to education, promote inclusion and place equity at the heart of education sector’s plans and budgets.”
“Almost 259 million children, adolescents and youth remain out-of-school, the vast majority of them in least developed countries and lower-middle income countries,” she observed.
She said inclusive, transformative education must ensure that all learners had unhindered access to and participation in quality inclusive education, free from violence and discrimination, and they were supported with comprehensive care services, including adequate nutrition and healthcare services within school settings.
“We need to ensure an inclusive, sustainable and resilient education system in which our children and youth, particularly girls are given the best learning opportunities and
better future.”
She underscored the need for strong focus on enhancing foundational learning so that individuals were empowered throughout their life course, and were equipped with knowledge, skills, values and attitudes. “
“This is important for a sustainable and just re-structuring of economies and societies, as enshrined in the SDG Target 4.7, as well as the entire 2030 Agenda. We must enhance synergies across our efforts on education as achievement in the sector helps to attain many of the Sustainable Development Goals. The Transforming Education Summit therefore must and should spur concrete actions towards the achievement of SDG4.”
“To save our succeeding generations from the contemporary scourges, transforming curricula and learning materials are urgently required. Students must be taught sustainable development, SDGs, human rights, rule of law, democracy, cultural diversity, interfaith and interreligious dialogue, tackling climate change and natural disasters, conflict management and resolution and peaceful co-existence. “
She said increasing the volume and quality of education financing, particularly in developing countries, was key to tackling the learning crisis.
“It is critical that education is an important part of international solidarity efforts, from debt management, concessional finance and stimulus packages to global humanitarian appeals, redistribution of new SDRs and fulfilment of Official Development Assistance. We also welcome the developing innovative financing vehicles and smart approaches which multiply available resources for financing. “
“By not truly educating a child, we induce inequalities and discrimination, which have a lifelong impact on lives of children, youth and on societies. The most important investment in the future of any nation is education. It is our collective responsibility to create an equitable and inclusive world, where every child, without discrimination, has equitable access to basic quality education,” she added.
“This is only possible if we comprehensively address the grave issues our education systems face today. The Transforming Education Summit has provided us with a unique opportunity to take transformative action for the future we want where every child enjoys the right to education and is given equal opportunities for growth and development,” the minister concluded.
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