Education transforms lives and is at the heart of UNESCO’s mission to build peace, eradicate poverty and drive sustainable development. UNESCO believes that education is a human right for all throughout life and that access must be matched by quality. The Organization is the only United Nations agency with a mandate to cover all aspects of education. It has been entrusted to lead the Global Education 2030 Agenda through Sustainable Development Goal 4.
COVID-19
The year 2020 had an unusual impact on humanity with the COVID-19 pandemic. No one expected that the pandemic would have such an impact on the world. It made us had to rethink on how we had to deal with everyday living. We had to adapt to a new normal in which the use of digital resources was accelerated like for instance in the educational system, projects and activities in Curaçao.
The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports had various active roles in presentations in the Education Response to COVID-19 in the Caribbean. The Policy Department shared its experience and preparations for the reopening of schools once the lockdown was lifted in Curaçao.
Furthermore, the National Commission gave a contribution to having the text for the UNESCO Caribbean Video Animation for the Safe Return to School within the COVID-19 Crisis translated into Dutch and Papiamentu as well as for the posters. This material was distributed to schools and placed on social media.
Black Board Academy
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused school closures around the world and amplified existing education inequalities, UNESCO formed a Global Education Coalition (March 2020) with outstanding UN agencies and others.
This brought together partners from a range of sectors, the Coalition set out to mitigate these disruptions by mobilizing support and coordinating local, national, regional, and global responses to ensure the continuity of learning. One of these was the Black Board Academy.
UNESCO and Blackboard Academy launched an initiative to train educators in online and blended learning skills to support quality education during COVID-19.
Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet)
International Days Activities
World Teachers' Day
World Teachers’ Day is held annually on 5 October to celebrate all teachers around the globe.
Being a teacher provides the unique opportunity to make a transformative and lasting impact on the lives of others, contributing to shaping sustainable futures and offering personal fulfillment. However, the world faces an unprecedented global teacher shortage exacerbated by a decline in their working conditions and status.
With the theme “The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage”, the 2023 celebrations will aim to put the importance of stopping the decline in the number of teachers and then starting to increase that number at the top of the global agenda.
