At the invitation of UNESCO, the Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) participated, on June 17, 2024, in the meeting of the SDG4-Education 2030 High-Level Steering Committee.
Participating via videoconference, H.E. Dr. Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of ALECSO, delivered a speech at the high-level closed session chaired by the President of Chile and the Director-General of UNESCO, and attended by education ministers who are members of the Committee. He commended the efforts made at local, regional, and international levels to move forward towards achieving SDG4 related to education. He reaffirmed, in this regard, the Arab States’ commitment to enhancing coordination mechanisms and international and regional frameworks in pursuit of this goal.
The Director-General stressed that ALECSO, as the Arab organization mandated with working jointly with Arab States and its partners to advance education in the Arab region, and as a representative of the Arab Group, alongside Saudi Arabia and Yemen, in the SDG4-Education 2030 High-Level Steering Committee for 2024-2025, is committed to working toward accelerating progress in implementing SDG4. Action in this regard, he added, involves various programs and projects designed to :
- Enhance educational response during emergencies by improving crisis anticipation, preparedness and response, and mitigating crisis impact on the continuity of education;
- Promote digital transformation in education, harness modern technology to enable students’ and teachers’ access, in all circumstances, to scientific and knowledge content, and integrate distance learning into educational curricula;
- Support orientation toward the “new education” through developing and reforming education systems with all their components (inputs, processes, and outputs);
- Reduce educational gaps through positive discrimination for priority countries, regions, and the neediest social groups (girls, people with disabilities, refugees, displaced persons, ...), by providing equitable and inclusive quality education opportunities for all and supplying the needed technical, human, and financial resources;
- Support Arab States in implementing their action plans to accelerate transition toward inclusive and quality education for all.
The meeting addressed ways of accelerating progress toward achieving SDG4, with focus on two key elements : transforming the financing of education and preparing for the forthcoming Global Education Meeting in Brazil (October 2024). Presentations and discussions concluded with several key points:
- Emphasizing equal access to quality education for all, girls and boys alike;
- Increasing care for people with disabilities, displaced persons, refugees, and individuals affected by political and social unrest, health crises, and climate change;
- Preserving the dignity and status of teachers in their communities, and enabling them to participate in education-related decision-making and implementation.
- Providing the needed financial support for education to be at the heart of change till 2030 and beyond;
- Promoting youth’s participation and leading role in the transforming education roadmap for the coming years.
