Though their existence antecedes the United Nations, international days and weeks are used by the body “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”.
In 2019, the United Nations General Assembly declared January 24 of every year International Day of Education in recognition of the role of education in peace and development. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO] being committed to uniting our world through global education, prioritizes education as a way to improve outcomes for children around the world. This is hinged on the Sustainable Development Goal four: Access to Quality Education which aims to ensure access to inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030.
The International Day of Education is an avenue to promote the importance of improving access to quality education. Quality education begins from the basic level which is the foundation and framework on which sound, further and higher education are premised. Basic education gives learners requisite abilities that helps them to set and meet their goals and positions them for lifelong achievement.
The themes for the International Day of Education from inception has changed from “Education: A Key Driver for Inclusion and Empowerment” in 2019 to “Learning for People, Planet, Prosperity and Peace” in 2020 and from “Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation” in 2021 to “Changing Course, Transforming Education” in 2022 and “To Invest in People, Prioritize Education” in 2023.
The theme for the year 2024 is “Learning for Lasting Peace”. The Nigerian society is totally immersed in avoidable and checkable communal crises and brigandage that cause insecurity in the society. Thus, education that is directed at resolving these unpalatable situations must be a transformative procedure which helps learners acquire indispensable knowledge, behaviours, norms, worth, skills, aptitudes and attitudes that would enable them to be agents of peace in the society.
Education from the pre-school level should lay the substructure for a much more egalitarian and conscionable society. If we allow it, education will become a force that diffuses through every aspect of our lives. A nation battling with ethnic tumults, warring communities, and other global issues like climate change, pandemics, economic crises, violence and conflict will need holistic education to address some of the challenges.
Knowledge is power, they say. Education is fundamental to bringing lasting peace to our society. Education cannot be treated as something to be given on a need-to-know basis. According to UNESCO, education is a human right, a public good and a public responsibility and as such, the hunger and thirst for education should be inculcated in every child at home. It is time that we turn our society around! There is need for educational transformation.
The 2024 International Day of Education challenges individuals, schools, professionals, associations, civil society organizations, governments, non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations, and religious organizations in Nigeria to take up the gauntlet, show that we are not collectively paying lip service to education and organize enlightenment campaigns for children, exposing them to the plethora of good to be gotten from education. Let us bring two or more children together for a few hours today and do the society this service and plant the seed in them that learning in an educational environment is both effort in the right direction and a worthy cause.
Written by OGOCHUKWU OKOYE
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