The International Day of Education was proclaimed a yearly celebration by UNESCO under “Changing Course, Transforming Education.” It is part of the endeavors to change course and find solutions to many drawbacks. This day was decided as a reminder and celebration that education holds the primary role in peace and development; without inclusive or equitable education and opportunities for all, countries will not succeed in any other endeavor or sustainable development goal.
Yet, numbers are daunting, hard facts that we cannot escape from. By numbers, we are talking about the number of people or children who are not educated on earth. The source of the statistics is from UNESCO, and a look at them is a wake-up call for all countries and people who have a passive role.
· To date, 258 million children do not attend school
· More than 600 million adolescents cannot read or even do basic mathematics
· In Sub-Saharan Africa, barely 40% of girls complete their secondary education
· millions of refugee children are out of school
If these numbers are any indication, they can only indicate that the movement is not in the right direction. In the Third Millennium, there is still no equality in education. Many women strive to have a secondary education, barely. Not just in Africa but in many other countries and slightly more in villages and agricultural regions where her efforts are needed elsewhere.
Many cultures dictate that a girl is married when she is barely 18 years old, and that's if she's lucky. However, if we search the Internet, we will find many cases actually uncountable, where girls, in particular, are married below the acceptable age.
In an effort to change course, education for all needs to be at the head – leading other sustainable goals. It's only through education that all the other goals will be achieved because knowledge is power and because we need every person on earth to be more than basically educated.
To quote from UNESCO, “We need to repair past injustices while orienting the digital transformation around inclusion and equity. Additionally, we need education to fully contribute to sustainable development – for instance, by integrating environmental education in all curricula and by training teachers in this field.”
Knowledge is power and education is the door to knowledge.
“When your mindset changes, the way you view the world changes, too.”
Let us help open the eyes of all through knowledge, education, and change their mindsets.