Education is an inseparable aspect of national development. Without proper education, the state cannot produce competent successors and is ready to develop the country in a better direction. Educational problems often become important discussions on several occasions.
At the international level, discussions around the world of education are of concern to many parties. Most recently, the United Nations adopted January 24th, celebrated as International Day of Education. So, what are the facts about this celebration?
The establishment of the International Day of Education celebration coincided with the holding of the Global Education Meeting which took place on 3-5 December in Brussels, Belgium. The UN General Assembly itself endorsed the birth of the celebration on 3 December.
The agreement on International Day of Education is not without reason. The desire to open access to quality and equitable education in all corners of the country in the world is the main goal of the birth of the celebration initiated by Nigeria and 58 other UN members.
In addition, education is also included in the 17 points of the UN SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) with the target of providing the broadest possible space for everyone to get an education. This SDG is a long-term agenda that will last until 2030.
With the ratification of International Day of Education, the United Nations appealed to all parties, both the government and public institutions, to work together in the success of decent education for the world community. As reported by en.unesco.org, H.E. Tijjani Muhammad Bande as the Nigerian representative to the United Nations said that International Education Day was the first step to open the eyes of the world that education was included in the crucial aspects of sustainable development.
Furthermore, Muhammad Bande also stressed that education is not just a human right that is owned by every human being but is far from it. According to him, education is a path for sustainable development that is beneficial to life. Besides Muhammad Bande, UNESCO Director of the New York region Marie Paule Roudil also revealed similar things about education.
For him, the problem of world education is not just a matter of pursuing SDG targets that have been announced until 2030. “Increasing knowledge, skills, values and behaviors for sustainable development in practice and creating innovation is crucial for global goals,” he was quoted as saying by en.unesco.org.
Although the development of education globally is progressing in fact there are still problems that must be resolved. The UN through its official alert on en.unesco.org noted that 750 million children and adults have not been able to read and write. In addition, there are 262 million children and adolescents who drop out of school due to various factors.
Educational problems that still arise in this modern era deserve serious attention. The involvement of the government and national and global scale institutions is needed so that the realization of quality and equitable education can be felt by the world community.