NEWS: MPs around the world mark International Education Day 2021
28.01.21 - IPNEd Global Co-Chair Harriett Baldwin MP provides an opening statement at a debate to mark International Education Day in the UK House of Commons.
In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 January as International Day of Education. This year the third International Education Day was marked and celebrated on Monday 25 January 2021 under the UNESCO theme of ‘Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation’.
Across the world, parliamentarians joined civil society, governments, teachers and students alike in celebrating the resilience of education.
The celebrations this year were marked by the ever-present reminder of the education disruption which has accompanied the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year.
IPNEd member parliamentarians across the world sought opportunities to highlight the current education emergency, and the ways governments can build back better from the pandemic. To support MPs, the IPNEd Secretariat produced a briefing to mark International Education Day with suggestions for how MPs can use the day to advocate for the vital importance of education as countries respond
to COVID-19.
In the United Kingdom Parliament, MPs across all parties joined a debate to mark UN International Day of Education on Thursday 28 January. MPs including IPNEd Co-Chair Harriett Baldwin MP (Conservative) and IPNEd members Layla Moran MP (Liberal Democrats) and Sarah Champion MP (Labour) highlighted the strong cross-party support for the UK government to pledge ambitiously to the 2021 replenishment of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), with a number of MPs adding their voice to the civil society campaign urging the UK government to contribute £600million to GPE’s replenishment.
Ferran Costa MP, Chair of the Education Committee in the Parliament of Andorra, organized a roundtable in Parliament to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the educational community. Together with the Ministry for Education, the Education Committee also coordinated a competition for children aged 6 to 18, who were invited to send drawings, short essays, pictures or Twitter messages to raise awareness on the right of education.
25.01.21 - Award ceremony for the competition organised by the Education Committee of the Andorran Parliament. The theme of the competition was: “Per què és important l’educació? Per què és important anar a l’escola?” // “Why is education important? Why does it matter to go to school?”. © Twitter
MP Edgard Traboulsi of the Parliament of Lebanon drew on the International Day of Education to highlight key issues for the realization of education for all. In a Twitter thread, he considered the gap between traditional & digital learning, legislation to alleviate complications for educational progress in Lebanon, and suggested that schools reopen only after a safe return is secured.
Highlighting the urgent need to provide sufficient financing for education, MP Traboulsi asked: "How do we support the educational sector while the percentage of allocations for education in the general budget is modest?”.
In the Parliament of Luxembourg, Sven Clement MP also tabled a motion on the International Day of Education. You can watch the recording of his motion on the parliamentary website here.
Parliamentarians also delivered statements to mark the international day, highlighting critical issues facing education in their own countries, as well as recognising the global impact of the education disruption:
MP Gertraud Salzmann
National Council, Austria
Diputada Brenda Lis Austin
Chamber of Deputies, Argentina
Heather McPherson MP
House of Commons, Canada
In the Parliament of Ghana, for example, Minister of Education Designate and IPNEd Founding Member, Hon. Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, marked International Education Day with a submission to Parliament, particularly highlighting the acute marginalization caused by the digital divide. He stated:
“The digital divide, therefore, finds expression in education divide and for us to be able to solve the challenge of education we have to go to the root of the problem and solve the digital divide.”
IPNEd Regional Representative for Asia, MNA Mehnaz Akber Aziz of the National Assembly of Pakistan, joined fellow parliamentarians in presenting policies to recover from the COVID-19 induced education emergency, suggesting both immediate and long-term solutions.
Senator Fiona O’Loughlin of the Irish Seanad Éireann joined IPNEd and the Irish Forum for Global Education at an event to mark the day. She discussed the vital importance of financing for education, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
MPs also took action in their local communities. IPNEd Co-Chair Senator Dr. Gertrude Musuruve Inimah of the Kenyan Senate visited a school with disadvantaged pupils in her local constituency. She supported the provision of food and hygiene supplies to pupils in the school.
In addition to advocating in their national parliaments and constituencies, IPNEd’s Global Executive Committee also convened a meeting on International Education Day to consider progress of the Network and share ideas for opportunities to mobilise political leadership for education in 2021.
25.01.21 - IPNEd Global Executive Committee in a meeting to consider objectives for the Network in 2021.
In IPNEd’s briefing for the International Day of Education, we introduced a three point plan for protecting education financing:
Strengthening domestic revenue mobilization and increasing the share of expenditure for education
Protecting and increasing official development assistance (ODA) for education
Strengthening international coordination to address the debt crisis
On International Education Day, MPs across the world built on this framework, highlighting the global education emergency and urging national authorities and the international community to protect and prioritize education financing in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout 2021, IPNEd will be working with parliamentarians, civil society and the international community to ensure that education is prioritised, protected and sustainably financed, ensuring that every child has access to an equitable and inclusive quality education.
For further information on how IPNEd member parliamentarians marked International Education Day, please contact the IPNEd Secretariat at info@ipned.org.
