President Sahle-Work highlights need to rethink educational models, approaches

Addis Ababa, February 20, 2023 (FBC) – President Sahle-Work Zewde delivered an opening remark at the UNESCO-AUC high-level side event to launch the continental report “Education in Africa: Placing equity at the heart of education policy” organized on the margins of the 36th AU summit.

She said “to transform education, more of the same will not do. Some of our difficulties stem from how we educate. It is not only about strengthening political commitment to education in national development policies or even to increase financing, as important as that is. We need a different education. To transform the future, we need to renew education. We need to rethink our educational models and approaches.”

She added “there can be no renewal of education without addressing the root causes of social exclusion. Educational exclusion is comprised of a web of exclusions where poverty is compounded by a range of factors of discrimination linked to gender, to residence, to minority status. Past injustices need to be addressed and corrected.”

The President spoke as Chair of the UNESCO International Commission on the Futures of Education established in 2019. Its aim is to reimagine how knowledge and learning can shape the future of humanity and the planet.

The initiative, which has seen broad engagement from civil society and experts, aims to leverage a broad debate on how Education should be rethought in a world characterized by increasing complexity, uncertainty and fragility.