COP28: Dubai Cares chief calls for transformation of education around the world
Plans to educate 2.1 billion people in developing countries in place, says Tariq Al Gurg
Dubai: A high level strategy will be put in place from January 2024 towards achieving the 2030 goal of Global Education Solutions Accelerator, said Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer and Vice-Chairman of Dubai Cares.
Speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of the RewirEd Summit held at COP28, Friday, Al Gurg said inclusivity, finance, climate change, indigenous knowledge will be some key talking points in the discussions aimed at educating 2.1 billion people in deserving countries by 2030.
He said: “At the core of it all is the future of education. We are not waiting long. We are going to put a high level strategy and this means we are talking leadership level, Al Gurg said.
He said a team will be put in place to action the strategy and goals to achieve the accelerator programmes, one of which includes adding Climate in national curriculum of countries worldwide. “Hopefully, we will be announcing something by the first quarter. We are not going to wait long.”
On December 2, Al Gurg had announced the programme at a session titled “The Youth and Education Session: The latent force of climate action in COP28’s World Climate Action Summit.
The Programme aims to educate 2.1 billion from 10 nations by 2030 where education is a challenge. Benefiting countries include Afghanistan, Brazil, India, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Portugal, Tajikistan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Pilot programme
Al Gurg said the pilot programme with 10 countries is looking very promising. “They have been talking to us since over a year. All I want is for these 10 countries to not only be a pilot, but to be a beacon and an example, a benchmark for all the other countries to follow their footsteps,” he noted.
Al Gurg said: “In 2030, when the Accelerator programme achieves its targets I can say easily that any goal that will come post the Sustainable Development Goals on education, as human beings we will proudly say that we were the generation who sold education to deserving countries.”
It is a framework now embedded within the United Nations portal. It’s the only global education framework, which is acknowledged by the UN. We will reach children who will never be enrolled in schools.
Al Gurg added: “What we need today is to transform our education systems. And while we’re doing that we invent a vertical towards climate. We should ensure that every single stakeholder in society is involved in the talks. Children, parents, teachers, Ministers of Education, the private sectors all need to be involved. We hope education will be part of future COPs.”
AKDN
Andrew Cunningham, Global Lead, Education, Aga Khan Foundaition — an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) said the future of education for the planet depends on policy, finance and practice. At COP28, in the UAE Ministry of Education’s Greening Education Hub, UNESCO has convened a group of ministers around the first declaration on the role of education and climate. Thirty three Ministers of education have signed up saying that they will put climate into their national curriculum which is incredible,” said Cunningham.
Under the COP28 Presidency Agenda, the Green Climate Fund and the Global Partnership for Education created a new financing mechanism to connect the two sectors. It is a very significant progress and an extraordinary move.
“The biggest challenge we face is time. The pace of change needs to go as fast as one goes through school. There will markers set for three, six months and we will set the accelerator up,” he noted.