Deputy Secretary-General calls for education systems to catch up with young people

Ladies and gentlemen,

Young people,

Happy International Day of Education!

Director-General El-Enany, I want to congratulate you as you assume leadership of this great institution. I look forward to working closely with you in this new chapter.

Today is a reminder of the power of education to change lives, especially the lives of young people.

We all know that education is one of the most powerful tools we have to transform the world.

It is the gateway to a life of dignity. 
It is the foundation of sustainable development, opportunity, prosperity, inclusion, equality and peace.

As a global good, it must be a responsibility shouldered by governments, and shared with educators, society and parents.

With the learners themselves.

The place of young people is at heart of what we deliver for education. 

This city knows something about what happens when young people are not included to co-create their education.

In May 1968, students at the Sorbonne took to the streets to demand the right to shape their own learning.  

They had to shut down the city to be heard.

History taught us a lesson.

Today, we do not want you in the streets; we want you in the room where decisions get made.

Not a symbolic seat at the end to comment on decisions already taken, but a real partnership from the start, when priorities are set, budgets are written, shaping curricula, and helping design the policies that affect your learning and your futures.

Education is also how we prepare for the future, even when the future is uncertain and turbulent.

Ten years ago, we could barely imagine how quickly technology, artificial intelligence, and new digital tools would reshape our world.

We do not yet know what the world of work will fully look like, but we know this: it will be anchored in a digital world, shaped by new tools, new skills, new markets and new rules.

The reality is that these tools carry risks as well as promise. 
We see threats emerging already: hate speech, online harassment, and algorithms that can reproduce bias and widen inequalities.  

Through the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact, we are working to strengthen safety and accountability online, including against hate speech, harassment, and harmful uses of technology.

To this end, UNESCO developed the first global guidance on GenAI in education, setting standards for data privacy protection and age-appropriate use to ensure these powerful new tools are ethical and safe for young people.

In parallel, UNICEF is working with governments through the "WeProtect" framework to prevent abuse and sexual exploitation of children online and strengthen capacity to protect young people and support survivors. 

The risks are very real, but we also see untold opportunities in the new digital world.

New tools can widen access, they can accelerate learning, and open pathways that simply did not exist even a few years ago. 
When it comes to the digital future, young people are way ahead of the curve, and it is the decision makers who have to catch up with you.

You are not having to adjust to the age of technology like the rest of us.

You are growing with it, shaping it, and frankly, we are a step behind.

During the pandemic young people showed an incredible resilience and ability to adapt to the new norms of learning and earning behind screens.

I recently heard of six young Ukrainian refugees in Poland that have created 'University of the Dream.' It is entirely driven by peers, and it helps other displaced teenagers navigate school systems in a new country, find mental health support, connect with resources, and build communities. 
We need that determination and ingenuity for building the future.

But that future must also be built on a foundation of safety.  

Our responsibility is to create the conditions where young people are safe, healthy, empowered, and have access to the right tools to lead.

Teachers are a crucial part of that foundation. When teachers are supported, trained, and empowered, they can create the learning environments where young people thrive as co-creators.  

That is why the Transforming Education Summit emphasised the importance of their profession, recognizing that their wellbeing and working conditions are not just "nice to have," they are essential to reimagining education itself.

Education – this fundamental human right – is being denied to millions of young people every day, especially young women and girls.

In Sudan, in Afghanistan, we are watching entire generations risk losing access to learning.

In Gaza alone, tens of thousands of children have been killed. Most young people have had zero access to in-person education for more than two years while schools and universities have been destroyed.

And what we don’t see and hear is the number of children who have been left disabled.

Creating the right conditions means addressing the full life cycle, it means ensuring safe schools and safe online spaces, accountability, affordable access, and trained and supported teachers.  

It means investing in foundational learning and digital infrastructure, setting and enforcing standards for safety and accountability online.

It means building pathways from learning to work, with skills that match the labour market, apprenticeships and first-job opportunities.  

It means that in every context, including crisis settings, young people are protected.

It also means psychological well-being.

Across the UN system, we are strengthening our focus on youth mental health and well-being, because we recognize that young people can only thrive, learn and lead when they feel safe, supported and heard.

Ladies and gentlemen,  

We are not starting from scratch when it comes to co-creating education with you. It is at the core of the 2030 Agenda, SDGs 4 and 5, and the work that was born out of the Transforming Education Summit in 2022.

Young people were co-architects of the agenda then, and through the global Youth Declaration process, the views of nearly half a million young people fed directly into the Secretary General’s Vision Statement.

That momentum continues as UNESCO is now leading the Youth Agenda for Education beyond 2030, putting young people at the centre of education from day one. 
And today, we are launching new data to guide us - data that measures youth participation in education policymaking, holding countries accountable for their commitments.

Ladies and gentlemen, Friends

I would like the older generations in the room to cast their minds back to when you were young.

Remember the frustration of wanting to contribute and being told "not yet," "be patient," "let the grown-ups handle it."

When I was younger, I was never asked to be a co-creator in my own education. That was not how things worked. But I learned not to wait for someone to offer you a seat at the table.

So, to the young people in this room: I will not ask you to be patient.

This is your education.

Your future.

The challenge is not whether you are ready. Young people have been ready.

The challenge is for the rest of the world to catch up. 

If we get this right, education will do what it has always done at its best: open doors, widen horizons, and let a new generation build a future with dignity, with opportunity, and with purpose.

Thank you.