Introduction

The social, economic and technological transformations facing our contemporary world reaffirm the need for education transformations and its continuous and even proactive response to enable societies achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Such response recalls the importance of the directions for the future of education in the twenty-first century, which are included in the report of Jacques Delors issued by UNESCO in 1996, entitled “Learning: The Treasure Within”.

Believing that education is a human right, The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 January as International Day of Education to emphasize the great role of education in peacemaking and society building and development. In addition, Education is a key goal of SDGs aiming at ensuring accessible, inclusive and equitable quality education by 2030. Moreover, the International Day of Education is a great opportunity to shed light on the status of children’s education around the world, and to emphasize the necessity of providing them with a good level of education.

The International Day of Education 2023 will be celebrated under the theme “to invest in people, prioritize education”. The celebration will build on the global momentum generated by the UN Transforming Education Summit in September 2022 for mobilizing global efforts to translate commitments into actions for accelerating the progress towards the achievement of SDGs 2030, specially SDG4 aiming at ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

To enhance the aspired roles of the quality and excellence of education systems in the Arab countries, the UNESCO Regional Center for Quality and Excellence in Education, in cooperation with several national, regional and international institutions and organizations, celebrates the International Day of Education. The purpose is to confirm the importance of quality education as a proactive value and to emphasize the priority of ensuring quality education for all and achieving well-being and sustainable development. Education quality is necessary to improve student attributes, knowledge and skills for achieving their full potential in an equitable education system that provides opportunities for lifelong learning.

This concept note summarizes the study, annexes and national reports thereof. It will address the analysis of the status of teacher performance during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to identifying gaps in good performance practices throughout the Arab world compared to global experiences and create a framework for distance learning development proposals in Arab countries.

Objective

• Review the major transformations in education included in UN Transforming Education Summit in September 2022.
• Enhance the participation of youth, teachers, parents and students in discussing key ideas to transform quality education commitments into action.
• Enhance the role of policy and decision makers in education quality and excellence to transform commitments into action.

Topics

1. The major transformations in education included in UN Transforming Education Summit in September 2022.
2. Ideas and solutions to transform quality education commitments into action.

Participants

The symposium will be attended in person and virtually (via ZOOM) by several educational decision makers, youth, experts, researchers, academics, teachers, school directors and representatives of ministries of education, schools and universities at the regional level to celebrate the International Day of Education.

Symposium Strategy

The symposium will be held virtually via Zoom from 11:00 am to 01:00 pm (Saudi time) on Tuesday, 24 January 2023.

Symposium Language

The working language will be the Arabic and English.

Organizers

UNESCO Regional Center for Quality and Excellence in Education in cooperation with Ministry of National Education and the Reform of the Educational System at the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.

Organizers

Ministries of Education in the Arab countries, regional and international organizations, and national committees.

Expected Outcomes

1. Final statement including main recommendations to support rethinking on transforming education quality commitments into action.