Our youth ambassador blogs here Patrick about global education policy. Covid-19 in particular presents us with new challenges, so that we also have to rethink education.
You are able to read this article. This very likely means that you were lucky enough to study and go to school. Digitization, participation and the equipment of the boarding school are all topics that can be argued about. However, education has a global dimension and cannot be limited to one’s own school in the neighborhood or in the village. The UN sustainability goals (SDGs – Sustainable Development Goals) – or Agenda 2030 – oblige us to think the school system globally and to act accordingly politically.
FAWE’s Nsaba Diaspora Community Senior High School (NDCSHS) / (C) 2010 ONE, Photographer: Morgana Wingard
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Die SDGS
With the SDGs, Germany has committed itself to ensuring inclusive, equitable and high-quality education for all people, as well as promoting opportunities for lifelong learning. This not only means the creation of a new school system within Germany by 2030, but also that this standard must also apply to support for educational projects in development cooperation. Regardless of where the students live, everyone should have the same opportunities to achieve their goals.
Inclusion
We still have ten years until 2030. Everyone who goes to school these days knows the problems schools are facing right now. The corona pandemic has even exacerbated this in many places. For example, if we live inclusion and want to pursue the goal seriously politically, that means thinking in an inclusive way while learning. Common problems such as internet connection or room ventilation are on everyone’s lips, but other – perhaps even more pressing – issues are neglected. What about the students who suffer from mental illness? Who thinks the student with depression and self-harming behavior that needs routine and contacts for support when the class is online? What about the student who has acute ADHD who needs a lot of exercise?
The challenge
How should countries affected by poverty manage to achieve the UN sustainability goals in the next ten years when we are already facing such challenges here in Germany? New curricula, textbooks and further training must be designed and financed. But if according to the Unesco As early as 2017, 264 million children had no access to education, we have to think about them in our policy and support them with funding.
Empty classroom in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Here too, schools are currently closed due to the coronavirus outbreak. Credit: GPE / Guy Nzazi
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Why us
If the promotion of education is given targeted support within development cooperation, we will be able to reduce extreme poverty by a further 20 percent by 2050 and increase the average life expectancy in the world by more than a year. This alone should be enough incentive to take action. Education is the key to fighting disease, hunger and poverty as well as a way to empower girls. Education also helps break down prejudice. It thus indirectly helps to defuse conflicts or prevents them from arising in the first place.
Would you like to work like Patrick for global educational justice? Then now is your chance: Apply as a ONE youth ambassador and make yourself strong with us for a better world.
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