UNITED STATES. New York. The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across the world and has made the task of achieving the Goals even stronger than before. This is the case in the area of education. The prescription for suppressing the health crisis has a huge side effect on education, taking millions of children out of school. As the Secretary-General warned last month, without an ambitious global response, a learning crisis could turn into a learning catastrophe.
This emergency has also made the Sustainable Development Goals more urgent than ever, and it has made transformation — such as the full reimagining of education — more possible than ever before.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s mentioned at the Global Education Forum, in New York on Thursday, “We have a great challenge in front of us, but let’s be clear: We know what we need to do. We have the tools and the partners to get the job done. It starts by making sure that education is a top priority in the pandemic response and recovery spending in national budgets and international investments.”
UN Deputy Secretary-General further added, “we must do even more. The Save Our Future White Paper provides a comprehensive road map for education in the recovery and across the Decade of Action, building on the Secretary-General’s policy brief released last month. I commend all involved for bringing the education sector together around this direction of travel.”
“I strongly encourage this Forum to turn the White Paper’s recommendations into action. A key opportunity is to ensure the current plans at country level, responding to country priorities in this crisis and supported by the United Nations, are included. And I very much look forward to further discussion at the Global Education Meeting in October building on the momentum of this meeting for urgent action in education.” says Amina Mohammed
