2019 HLPF - Contribution from the SDG-Education 2030 Steering Committee

This submission has been prepared by the SDG-Education 2030 Steering Committee as a response to the kind invitation of the President of ECOSOC, to provide an input to the thematic review of the United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) focusing on “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”.

In line with its mandate to play a key role in the global review of progress on education, the Steering Committee engaged in inclusive consultations between different stakeholders to ensure that the voices of all resonate in this submission, which draws on data of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and analyses in the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring reports and reflects the outcomes of regional consultation, organized by UNESCO in 2018, as well as those of the 2018 Global Education Meeting, which resulted in the adoption of the Brussels Declaration.

The world has made significant progress in education in the past decades and progress has been to an extent, maintained in the past four years with the impetus provided by the adoption of Agenda 2030 Agenda 2030. Despite these gains, the opportunity to ensure inclusive, quality education and training as set out by SDG 4 is at risk for millions of children, youth and adults.

This submission is therefore a call for increased efforts to reduce inequalities in education systems in order to reduce inequality within and among countries (SDG 10); and for strengthening the links between education, training, lifelong learning and skills development, to help attain decent work for all (SDG 8) and address environmental challenges (SDG13), and to achieve peaceful, inclusive and just societies (SDG 16).

Noting that governments have a primary responsibility in ensuring the right to education, the submission recognizes that youth, students, teachers, school and post-secondary institution leaders, their representative organizations, as well as communities, parents, civil society and academia, do play a central role in ensuring the right to inclusive quality education for all.