International Education Day is celebrated annually on January 24. This year marks the fourth year, with the theme ‘Changing course, transforming education’.
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared the celebration of this day in December 2018 to mark the importance of education in ensuring peace and development. The resolution on the occasion of this International Day of Education was drafted by 59 member states. This demonstrated the unwavering political will to support transformative actions for inclusive, equitable and quality education for all.
This year’s celebrations will take place at UN Headquarters in New York, Expo 2022 in Dubai, Harvard University Graduate School of Education and Global Minnesota.
Education is a tool that can be used to ensure growth and progress, but access to this tool is very uneven. The Covid-19 pandemic has further widened this gap. Education ran into a huge gap during the pandemic due to the closure of schools, universities and other educational institutions and required a shift to the online mode.
“Transforming the future requires an urgent rebalancing of our relationships with each other, with nature and with the technology that permeates our lives, with breakthrough opportunities while also making serious concerns for equality, inclusion and democratic participation,” read the Futures of Education report from unesco .
Meanwhile, India is celebrating its own National Education Day which is celebrated on November 11 to mark the birthday of India’s Prime Minister of Education, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Azad strongly advocated the education of women.
