President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has charged member states of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to prioritise education in the common development agenda of their countries.
He said the Domestic Financing champion of the Global Partnership for Education sought the cooperation and support of UNESCO “to work towards developing sustainable homegrown financial solutions, so we can develop the educational system for the future we want in our various countries”.
Addressing the 215th meeting of the Executive Board of UNESCO at Paris in France yesterday, the President noted that the world does not have the luxury to pick and choose which crises it wants to fix.
“At this moment, we cannot pick and choose between funding guns and education. We cannot pick and choose between the interests of the present generation and the future of our girls and boys. We cannot choose geopolitical concerns over preserving our cherished cultural heritages, lest we perish universally,” he said.
Competing priority
Due to global instability, however, the President noted, education has become one of many competing priorities of domestic budgets, with development aid to the education sector also seriously under pressure.
“Indeed, countries reduced their spending on education after the onset of the COVID-19, and, at the same time, direct aid to education by bilateral donors fell by some $359 million, which is not compatible with the objectives of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda for financing sustainable development and the goals of the SDGs,” he stated.
The President added: “We are further informed that prospects for reaching funding target, through voluntary contributions, are uncertain as several long-term donors have already reduced significantly their voluntary contributions to UNESCO due to a change in development cooperation priorities, thereby significantly impacting our planned programme implementation.”
In spite of these challenges, the President commended UNESCO for the lead role it played in ensuring the success of the Transforming Education Summit, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September, this year.
Educational transformation
On the Futures of Education report from UNESCO, the President said the Transforming Education Summit and the pre-summit held here in Paris had been extremely successful in getting the world to reflect deeply on the trajectory of educational systems, and how to address the challenges of times.
Touching on Global Priority Africa Programme, which was adopted by the UNESCO General Conference at its 41st Session, President Akufo-Addo was delighted that UNESCO had made Africa a Global Priority.
He was also delighted to see UNESCO’s flagship programmes as being relevant to achieving the objectives of the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063, which is the “The Africa We Want.”
He also urged UNESCO’s Executive Board to help win the fight against climate change, especially as the planet is heading towards a dangerous tipping point as a result of climate change.
Commendation
The President further commended UNESCO for the effort to strengthen the “Man and Biosphere Programme”, whose goal is to help protect nature and biodiversity loss globally, through the Biosphere Reserve Concept.
“I urge UNESCO Member States to strengthen measures, at their respective national levels, that recognise formally the contribution of Biosphere Reserves, and designate more biosphere reserves and geoparks as a sure way for solving the climate crisis,” he entreated.
President Akufo-Addo also informed the Executive Board of the news that Accra had been named as the UNESCO World Book Capital for 2023, making it part of the prestigious World Book Capital Cities Network.
This, according to him, is an acknowledgement of the giant strides Ghana and Africa are making in developing Ghana’s book and creative arts industry.
“The year-long programme to celebrate this honor done us by UNESCO will commence from April 23, 2023, which is celebrated globally as the World Book and Copyright Day. I wish to use this opportunity to invite you all to join Ghana in this year-long celebrations,” the President said.
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