G7 Italy-digi

Enhancing economic, environmental and social stability and inclusiveness
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society can make, to join the dots between
poverty and prosperity, to fight exclusion, to
advance dialogue and solidarity.
The stakes are high: 263 million
children, adolescents and youth are out of
school – and most of them are girls. Just
one per cent of poor rural young women in
low-income countries complete secondary
school and two-thirds of the 758 million
illiterate adults in the world are women.
Children in conflict-affected countries are
especially vulnerable, with 50 per cent of
refugees having no access to secondary
education. Sustainable development
requires highly skilled workers with specific
training – yet, by 2020, the world could
have 40 million too few workers with
tertiary education relative to demand.
Responding to rapid global change
The need for new skills extends to all spheres
of life, and in all countries, including in the
G7. Rapid global change calls for flexibility
and the ability to learn throughout life.
From early childhood through adulthood,
education needs to nurture a range of
cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural
skills that enable learners to take informed
decisions and assume active roles locally,
nationally, regionally and even globally.
Learning must reinforce an individual’s
resilience, inculcate an ability to appreciate
diversity and change, and build media
and information literacy. This approach
to education is what UNESCO calls Global
Citizenship Education.
Harnessing technology
With more than six billion people having
access to a connected mobile device, mobile
technology is changing how we live and
learn. We must support these trends to
shape them for the benefit of all women and
men – to reinforce education systems, to
bolster knowledge dissemination, to widen
information access, to advance quality
and effective learning, and to ensure more
effective service provision.
This is the goal of the Broadband
Commission for Sustainable Development,
co-chaired by President Paul Kagame of
Rwanda and Carlos Slim, and co-vice-chaired
by the International Telecommunication
Union and UNESCO. The same objective
underpins all UNESCO’s work to advance
mobile learning – including through our
annual global flagship Mobile Learning
Week, led this year with the United Nations
High Commission for Refugees, to reinforce
education in emergency and crisis situations.
Bridging the digital divide
We must do everything to ensure the digital
revolution is a development revolution for
everyone. This calls for targeted policies –
including G7 by members – to bridge digital
divides, to widen access by marginalised
groups, to empower girls and women
especially, and to ensure everyone has the
right skills to make the most of change.
All this calls for a new focus on
recruiting, supporting and training teachers
across the board. UNESCO works with
the G7 and other countries, including
through the International Task Force on
Teachers to raise education standards –
through policy support on recruitment,
training, motivation, social dialogue and
accountability of the teaching profession.
In Africa, for instance, UNESCO is working
to improve the technology infrastructure
and skills of teacher educators in teacher
training institutions in 10 African low- and
lower middle-income countries.
The 2030 Agenda is universal – no
one can be left behind. This means making
education a priority everywhere, nationally
and globally, in developing and developed
countries. It means also harnessing the
full power of new technologies for the
benefit of everyone. G7
g7g20.com May 2017 • G7 Italy: The Taormina Summit 99