United Nations Transforming Education Summit concludes
The United Nations Transforming Education Summit concludes today.
The Summit seeks to regain ground on meeting global education objectives that were set back by the COVID-19 pandemic. Another key concern was the negative impact on students’ health and safety because of an increase in domestic violence and child labor associated with widespread school closures. Some of the key outcomes of today’s summit include increasing financing for education as well as ensuring public digital learning.
On Friday, youth activists in conjunction with the secretary general’s youth envoy presented the Youth Declaration, a document that looks to address the global education crisis that has disproportionately affected students in low and middle income countries. Spain and Switzerland were staunch supporters of the Giga initiative which would support increased access to the internet for education.
Following today’s summit the International Financing Facility for Education will be launched, which will increase education finances for low and middle income countries through regional and multilateral development banks. Existing initiatives like Giga will be mobilized in order to address gaps in digital access, capacity, and security to support digital transformations in education. Some roadblocks include infrastructure deficits and gender-inequality which limits access to the internet.
