The
Transforming Education Summit is being convened in response to a global crisis
in education – one of equity and inclusion, quality, and relevance. Often slow
and unseen, this crisis is devastatingly impacting the futures of children and
youth worldwide. The Summit provides a unique opportunity to elevate education
to the top of the global political agenda and to mobilize action, ambition,
solidarity, and solutions to recover pandemic-related learning losses and sow
the seeds to transform education in a rapidly changing world.
The world is in
the depths of a learning crisis, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly
two-thirds of 10-year-olds across low-, middle-, and high-income countries are
unable to read and comprehend a simple story. These children's –and their families
and communities –futures hang in the balance as education systems fail to
ensure they learn the basic skills they need for lifelong learning. Children
and young people have a crucial role to play in calling for action to address
this learning crisis. In this context, UNICEF proposed a Yunitok poll to
harness children and young people’s ideas, opinions, experiences, and solutions
to the learning crisis. The results of the poll will be used to inform and help
to drive advocacy, particularly under the Global Advocacy Priority on the
learning crisis and will be amplified to ensure children and young people’s
voices are heard on the global stage. While the results will be used around the
Transforming Education Summit in September 2022, they will have relevance for
other projects throughout this year and beyond.