Let’s celebrate United Nations International Day of Education on January 24. This is an opportunity to celebrate education worldwide by promoting the idea that education plays a key role in building sustainable and resilient societies, and contributes to the achievement of all other Sustainable Development Goals. This year’s focus is on taking the opportunity to showcase the most important transformations that have to be nurtured to realize everyone’s fundamental right to education and build a more sustainable, inclusive and peaceful futures.
The right to education is enshrined in article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration calls for free and compulsory elementary education. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989, goes further to stipulate that countries shall make higher education accessible to all.
Did you know “Education offers children a ladder out of poverty and a path to a promising future. But about 258 million children and adolescents around the world do not have the opportunity to enter or complete school; 617 million children and adolescents cannot read and do basic math; less than 40% of girls in sub-Saharan Africa complete lower secondary school and some four million children and youth refugees are out of school.”
If you are passionate about education, you may be interested in researching the following career pathways: teacher, teaching assistant, career advisor/counsellor, special education teacher, tutor, literacy coordinator and university professor. International days and weeks are occasions to educate the public on issues of concern, to mobilize political will and resources to address global problems, and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity.
Please take a moment to reflect on what we can do together to advance education for citizens around the world.