International Day of Education 2023

The International Day of Education is commemorated on the 24th of January globally. Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2018, this day highlights the role education has towards peace and development.

This year’s theme is profound, “to invest in people, prioritize education.” It points to how education plays the most significant role in people and subsequently nation building. It calls for maintaining strong political mobilization around education, charting the way to translate commitments and global initiatives into action. It prompts for actions which ensure education is given the front seat in policy decisions, budgets and initiatives. It raises the cry to go beyond the policies and take actions towards implementation so the dividends of education will show.

According to the UN, 244 million children and youth are out of school, and 771 million adults are illiterate. Their right to education is being violated and it is unacceptable.

Everyone deserves a good education and this is beyond the four walls of a school. People remain a priority in nation building for, what is a nation without its people? And what is a nation meant to do for its inhabitants if not invest in them? Prioritizing education certainly makes for the highest form of investment.

This brings us to ask, what really is education? That we should make it a priority or give it so much attention? What exactly does education entail? Education can simply be said to be the building of the total man for the benefit of society. It is the making of an individual who will be a solution provider to his immediate community and the global village.

Education is not a means of escape from poverty but facilitates a mindset shift which does a lot more, including ridding the community of poor mindsets and yes, empty pockets. Education molds the man who will go ahead to lead with the right mindset which encapsulates making the lives of others better by serving his society with his unique gifts and abilities.

Education is certainly beyond schooling or being taught in the four walls of a formal institution. Education is holistic and involves everyone playing a role, contributing their quota to the making of a better society: Teachers, students, parents, career professionals, the community at large. Education remains the most potent tool to break the cycle of poverty, erase gender inequalities and stimulate economic growth.

Jeff Duncan-Andrade, a seasoned urban educationist, says “Education is the process by which you teach people that they can fundamentally change society.” This definition certainly resonates with this year’s International Day of Education theme as it focuses on building people.

Here is a call to put our best into making our education sector a worthwhile venture, taking needful actions to ensure every member of the society has the access to facilities, structures and systems that will build and expand their mindsets; equipping and positioning them to effect change in their societies. If this is done, man is built and society is saved. Failure to do the needful will without a doubt mean a saturation of our communities with “half- baked” people, who can’t proffer solutions to the problems they live with but rather create more, leading to a failed system.

Let’s Invest in People! Let’s Prioritize Education!