2nd National Consultation towards the Summit on Transforming Education

• I bring you greetings from the UN Resident Coordinator. The UN is happy to join you today for the 2nd National Consultation towards the Summit on Transforming Education scheduled to take place in New York, and the declaration of Ghana’s Thematic Action Track for transforming education. The UN in Ghana is grateful to the government for its interest in and the actions so far undertaken in preparation towards the Summit next month in response to the United Nations Secretary-General’s initiative.  We also commend and express our sincerest appreciation to the Government of Ghana for accepting to co-host this important Summit in New York. 

• The Transforming Education Summit (“TES”) aims at mobilizing action, ambition, solidarity and solutions with a view to transforming education between now and 2030. The Summit is being convened in the context of two dramatic and deeply interconnected challenges negatively influencing quality education and lifelong learning for all. First, we are experiencing a global learning crisis that, in a highly unequal dynamic, is depriving hundreds of millions of children and young people of their right to quality education, leaving many of the education-related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals and in particular SGD 4 on quality education off track.

• Second, the learning crisis is part of a broader challenge relating to the inability of conventional education systems to deliver the knowledge, skills and outlooks needed for children, young people and adults to excel in today’s world and contribute to equitable, sustainable, healthy and peaceful futures.

• To respond to these challenges, and in order to achieve its national vision of Ghana Beyond Aid, there will need to be a real transformation in the Education sector. This requires systemic change to strengthen the functioning and resiliency of the system overall to deliver the results needed to achieve SDG 4.

• COVID-19 in this context has only further shown the inadequacy of conventional education systems in responding to disruptions and crisis with many more children having fallen behind.

• Also refer to our CCA which shows many intersectoral issues (such as leveraging digital opportunities, building forward for greener growth, addressing needs in an increasingly mobile world) all suggest the need for transformative thinking and skills.

• In short, there is an urgency of transforming education systems to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all are realized as spelt out in the SDG 4.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen and young people,

• The Summit is seen as a platform at head of state level to reimagine education, renew commitments and revitalize efforts to achieve SDG 4 between now and 2030.

• Achieving these objectives requires inclusive dialogues and meaningful engagement across the full set of stakeholders, particularly of young people, students, teachers, government agencies, academia and development partners. The process leading up to the Transforming Education Summit provides an opportunity to do so, and to put education at the center of the political debate in Ghana.

• The national consultations recognize not only that education systems in every country are unique and shaped by the local context, but also that many countries have pre-existing strategic plans or ongoing education policy processes. The Summit process builds on these efforts as we move forward with strong support by the United Nations, particularly UNESCO and UNICEF who have mandates on achieving SDG4. 

• In our view, the consultations so far held in Ghana, which have been aimed at developing a shared understanding and vision going forward across constituencies to transform education have been very informative and provided good content and insights for developing the right and strategic pathways, bringing in all the needed partnerships and interlinkages to achieve the desired transformation.   

• Participants during the first national consultation held in June for example highlighted the need for investment in educational infrastructure, providing equitable access especially to underserved communities, achieving 40% target for Gross Tertiary Enrollment by 2030 among others.

• The outcomes of this first consultative process together with inputs from other education sector related process initiatives informed the thinking of the Ghanaian delegation at the Pre-Summit meeting in Paris in June 2022.  Feedback from the Paris event indicates that Ghana had good initiatives to show, these included the free SHS, inclusive education, school feeding program, high enrollment rates, investment in infrastructure, commitment to TVET, teacher development professionalism initiatives, pre-tertiary competency-based curriculum, etc. as examples.  Additionally, learnings from Paris have informed ongoing preparations in the lead up to the main summit.

•  The  national youth consultation the, many bilateral meetings, as well as the consultation with youth with disabilities held this week   is commendable as this will enable Ghana garner specific concerns from groups that are likely to be left behind in the process. In this context, the UN agencies with a strong mandate in education transformation have supported the Government in particular to ensure young peoples are part of the consultations, their voices are heard and contributing to the drafting of a global TES “Youth Declaration”. It is imperative to ensure youths’ active engagement and participation in the process to think of better and more relevant education systems that are more responsive to their needs, conditions, abilities as well as changing national and global contexts.

• During the youth consultation young people shared their concerns and reflected on the inadequacy of the school curriculum.  They did not want curricula that only provide them with skills to get employed, set up their own business as well as better navigate their lives in the society and beyond.  They also want to be included in the curriculum design process in the first place. Others indicated outdated teaching practices and pedagogies that do not reflect the skills and competencies needed in today’s world.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen and young people,

• All consultations have pointed to the centrality of equipping young people in an inclusive manner with the skills they need to navigate their lives, enter the labor markets and thrive in a changing global world. This demand is well reflected in the Transforming Education Summit Thematic Action Track 2 “Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development” which reflect also well the challenges development partners in the education in Ghana have observed and are supporting the Government in addressing.

• It is however important to keep in mind the Interlinkages that exist between the five action tracks, which include:
  • Action Track 1: Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools
  • Action Track 2: Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development
  • Action Track 3: Teachers, teaching and the teaching profession
  • Action Track 4: Digital learning and transformation
  • Action Track 5: Financing of education

• There is therefore a need to use Action Track 2 as an entry point in addressing the issues related to the other tracks as they are a key set of relevant components of the entire transformation agenda. The interlinkages are very strong and will add up to the some of their parts.

As Ghana prepares to deliver the commitment statement towards reimagining and transforming education at all levels of education, we recommend that priority and equal attention be given to all the 5 Thematic Tracks giving their interdependence for the achievement of the SDG 4 by 2030.

• Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development is central to Ghana’s continued socio-economic development and status of a lower-middle income country. Allow me to share a few thoughts in this context:

• Foundational learning means to master literacy and numeracy and provides the building blocks for all other learning, knowledge, and higher order skills that children and youth need to attain through education.   In Ghana significant success has been achieved in children accessing and staying in school, yet their learning outcomes are very low. It is estimated that on average a child spends about 11 years in the school system yet acquires the learning worth about 6 years with many children aged 10 not being able to read a simple text.

• The UN in Ghana recognized the challenge of low learning outcomes in a Position Paper as input for Ghana’s preparation towards the Transforming Education Summit. One of the proposed “big shifts” aiming at improving learning outcomes is to master foundational literacy and numeracy and proposes in this context -among others- the introduction of innovative teaching practices such as targeting children at the “right level”.

• In this context, the UN in Ghana calls for urgent and decisive action where learning levels are low to ensure all children, including the most marginalized, develop foundational learning to realize their full potential.

• Skills for life, work and sustainable development is the other key dimension of the Thematic Action Track. Many children who drop-out or graduate from the education system report not having right relevant skills they need transition to and be successful in the labor market, to navigate social challenges and contribute to national development efforts.

• Young people with relevant and employable skills are key to sustained national socio-economic development as well as reaching individual full potentials. “Big shifts” in this field require a re-thinking of curriculum design, teaching pedagogies and practices as well as build close relations with the private sector and young people themselves to ensure that not only what is being taught and trained in- and out of school is relevant and aligns to current and future labor market demands, but also to the context, community and society in which young people live and want to thrive.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen and young people,

• Having shared with you some thoughts and reflections on behalf of the UN on the process towards the Summit and some of its key thematic areas that we consider central in this process. The UN agencies in Ghana working on education stand ready to continue to support the Government in its efforts to transform the education system to ensure it delivers the knowledge, skills and outlooks needed for children, young people and adults to excel in today’s world and contribute to equitable, sustainable, healthy and peaceful future. UN will aim to bring onboard other relevant development partners as needed. UN will aim to bring onboard other relevant development partners as needed. 

• May I take this opportunity to congratulate the President of the Republic of Ghana for accepting to become a Domestic Financing Champion the Global Partnership for Education, the world’s partnership and fund focused on providing quality education to children in lower-income countries. It is our expectation that the Government of Ghana will leverage this opportunity to gain adequate resources and expertise to transform the education system that will inure to the benefit of all Ghanaians.

• Ayekoooo to the Government and the National Convenor for convening this group here today. I wish you a productive meeting.

Thank you.