UNB, Dhaka :
Education will be central to the success of the international targets that will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire in 2015.
That’s the key point of a new booklet that will be released during the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly that is now convening in New York.
Produced by UNESCO’s Education for All Global Monitoring Report, the booklet states that new global development targets after 2015 should be based on a holistic approach to sustainable development.
The booklet has received far-reaching support from across the development world, including from the United Nations Secretary General, the Director-General of U NESCO, the President of the World Bank, the Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning, the Prime Minister of Norway, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, the Founder and Chairman of the UN Foundation, and the President, Foundation for Community Development & Founder, Graça Machel Trust, Graça Machel.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says: “Education is a fundamental right and the basis for progress in every country. Parents need information about health and nutrition if they are to give their children the start in life they deserve.
“Prosperous countries depend on skilled and educated workers. The challenges of conquering poverty, combating climate change and achieving truly sustainable development in the coming decades compel us to work together. With partnership, leadership and wise investments in education, we can transform individual lives, national economies and our world,” he added.
The need to provide quality education to the greatest number of people is woven through all
the proposed new goals under the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The goals include poverty reduction, nutrition improvement, health and wellbeing, gender equality and women’s empowerment, economic growth and decent work and peaceful, just and inclusive societies.
“The evidence is unequivocal: education saves lives and transforms lives, it is the bedrock of sustainability,” says UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.
“This is why we must work together across all development areas to make it a universal right,” she added.
Aaron Benavot, director of the EFA Global Monitoring Report, said: “This paper provides compelling evidence of the dynamic interplay between education and other development priorities.
