Month: September 2022

9 September 2022 – New UNESCO data shows that 244 million children and youth between 6 and 18 years old worldwide are still out of school. Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General, calls for collective mobilization to ensure that the right of every child to access quality education is respected.

The new estimates, published online, show that sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the most children and youth out of school, with a total of 98 million children. It is also the only region where this number is increasing. The region with the second highest out-of-school population is Central and Southern Asia, with 85 million. The data per country is available in interactive visualizations on the VIEW website. The objective of quality education for all by 2030, set by the United Nations, risks not being achieved.

The new UNESCO estimates confirm that the difference in the rate of girls and boys out of school has closed worldwide.

Today, September 19, the Transforming Education Summit will be held convened by the UN Secretary General, which will bring together Heads of State and Governments.

Read the UNESCO press release.

On October 5th-7th, 2022 the 22nd International Association for Adolescent Health (IAAH) European Regional Conference will be held in Athens, Greece. It is locally organized by the Greek/Hellenic Society for Adolescent Medicine (GSAM) and mainly focuses on youth development during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The final programme is now available.

Theme

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth physical and mental health, education, development and overall well-being may raise dilemmas in the management and the control of immediate or long-term consequences. Action through multidisciplinary approaches is required and knowledge of physical and psychosocial aspects, as well as possible aetiological factors, burden of co-morbidities, prevention and treatment options, as well as counselling and support strategies are prerequisites for every effort of controlling the situation and will constitute the main core of the scientific programme. Formal and non-formal education, youth-friendly services and safe digital spaces that help young people make healthier choices and develop healthy relationships, are also a topic of great interest in this conference.

An update on other important Adolescent Medicine topics, such as nutrition, vaccination, skin conditions, contraception, sports medicine, etc. will be presented.

Participants

Medical doctors of different specialties, other health professionals and specialists e.g., psychologists, social workers, educators, dieticians, physical fitness experts, etc. are welcome to participate and contribute to the works of the IAAH conference by exchanging experience and expertise, as well as difficulties encountered in different countries.

Format

Interactive workshops, symposia, round tables will take place and experts will present key topics in plenary sessions. Oral and poster presentations will highlight novel research ideas.

Youth participation during the conference will enrich discussions and debates.

Registration and conference website

More information about registration.

Go to the conference website.

Every child has the right to survive, thrive, and reach their full potential – but they can only realize this right if their schools provide them with a learning environment that promotes their education, health, nutrition, and wellbeing.

The Government of Morocco in partnership with UNICEF, WFP, UNESCO, WHO, and FAO invites valued education partners to join heads of state and agency leaders to ‘Healthy & Educated’, an event on investing in school health and nutrition to transform education and the lives of children and young people.

On the occasion of the Transforming Education Summit’s ‘Solutions Day’, the event will engage with UN agency leadership, heads of state, and youth advocates to explore programmes, policies, and actions that have been undertaken to improve the health, nutrition, and wellbeing of school-age children.

Registration is now open and will close on September 15, 5:00 PM (EST). Please note in-person attendance is by invitation only.

‘Healthy & Educated: Investing in school health and nutrition to transform education and the lives of children and young people’

Date: Saturday, September 17, 2022

Time: 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EST, 17.00 – 18.30 CET

Livestream: https://unicef.zoom.us/j/98095116955

More information: https://www.eventcreate.com/e/unicef-tes-shn

In the article “We underestimate the impact of climate change on education” Irene Torres and Carole Faucher describe the impact of climate change on education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Climate change is causing more frequent and more severe weather events. With hurricanes damaging and destroying school infrastructure, equipment and teaching materials, and ensuing flooding and mudslides impeding access to schools by teachers and students. In the aftermath, schools are often used as shelters, bringing lessons to a further halt.

Slow climate change related events such as an increase in surface and ocean temperatures, and in the frequency and intensity of heatwaves and drought, are also expected to continue unfolding in Latin America and the Caribbean. Effecting children’s ability to concentrate in class and their general wellbeing. 

The authors urge the governments and key actors to recognise the impact of climate change on education and to protect the right of students to physically remain in school.

Read the whole article

Torres, I. & Faucher, C. (2022, August 8). “We underestimate the impact of climate change on education”. Latinoamerica21. https://latinoamerica21.com/en/we-underestimate-the-impact-of-climate-change-on-education/

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) and the UNESCO Chair Global Health and Education (GHE) will co-host this webinar as part of a series aimed at developing a roadmap for the enactment of the Yeonsu Declaration for Learning Cities, adopted at the fifth International Conference on Learning Cities (ICLC 5) in October 2021. The webinar will take place on 7 September 2022, from 13.00 – 14.30 CEST.

This is the second webinar in a three-part webinar series entitled ‘Lifelong learning for health: Enacting the Yeonsu Declaration for Learning Cities’. This second webinar will look at ways of conducting a lifelong learning for health (LLLH) inventory of resources before developing a city-based action plan that integrates formal, non-formal and informal learning spaces – including institutions – to actualize a multisectoral approach to LLLH.  

The webinar will examine ways to enhance the quality of intersectoral collaboration by, for example, overcoming communication hurdles between sectors. Other points to be addressed include the sustainable expansion of a ‘health learning pathway’ and its importance for community resilience.  

More specifically, the following thematic focuses will be on the agenda: 

• Thematic Focus 1: Assessing existing LLLH inventory and resources as a first step towards developing an LLLH action plan; 
• Thematic Focus 2: Developing an action plan for a health learning pathway for all that considers the roles of all stakeholders and integrates formal, non-formal and informal learning spaces across diverse settings and institutions; 
• Thematic Focus 3: Promoting LLLH as a means to sustainably build community resilience in cities. 

The webinar will be held in English, French, and Spanish.

For more information and registration.

About the webinar series 

This three-part webinar series will result in a final co-created roadmap for the enactment of the Yeonsu Declaration for Learning Cities. UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) members will work towards the development of LLLH policies, inventories of initiatives and step-by-step action plans to build a health learning pathway for all. For cities and partners beyond the UNESCO GNLC, the webinars are an opportunity to join a rich exchange on LLLH policy development and initiatives and explore the diverse learning city development processes of UNESCO GNLC members. This could serve as a starting point for further involvement and, in some cases, future membership in the network.