Shahbaz Khan
We are currently living in an era of digital transformation and innovation, with the world being increasingly interconnected by digital technologies. The digital transformation in education systems has contributed significantly to enhancing equity and inclusion.
It has strengthened the quality of education at all levels, ensuring universal access to basic education and beyond. As presented in the 2015 Qingdao Declaration on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education, technology can expand the learning opportunities to reduce the long-existing divides among students, and is of critical importance to the outcome of education and skills development.
Acting as the lead agency for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4), UNESCO is dedicated to the vision of guaranteeing quality education for a sustainable and shared future. UNESCO is committed to promoting policy dialogue, enhancing institutional capacity, promoting best practices, setting standards and supporting educational transformation to contribute to poverty alleviation.
As highlighted in the Education 2030: United Nations Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action, “there is an urgent need for children, youth and adults to develop throughout life the flexible skills and competencies they need to live and work in a more secure, sustainable, interdependent, knowledge-based and technology-driven world”. Education is pivotal to achieving some key objectives of the Belt and Road Initiative, especially skills development aligned with infrastructure development.
The United Nations Transforming Education Summit held in 2022 has five core action areas, among which digital learning, green skills and technical and vocational skills are aligned with the Belt and Road Initiative, digital economy, green economy and knowledge society. All Belt and Road countries have expressed their commitment to the United Nations Transforming Education Summit. Furthermore, UNESCO’s global education agenda platform on skills development, higher education exchange and student mobility is closely aligned with the Belt and Road Initiative.
UNESCO’s Medium-Term Strategy 2022-29 places gender equality and Africa as strategic priorities. UNESCO has joined hands with the Chinese government and institutions in China to implement common projects aimed at advancing the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and specifically SDG4 on quality education. The major education targets aligned with the Belt and Road Initiative are aimed at upgrading the skills of the workforce in the member states, to promote sustainable development by empowering local communities, to embrace global solidarity and partnership, and to bring shared prosperity for all. Before the establishment of the Belt and Road Initiative, UNESCO had already implemented education, culture and science programs in the Belt and Road countries with the support of the Chinese government under the various global education and cultural platforms. In particular, in 2012, the UNESCO-China-Funds-In-Trust (CFIT) project was launched among the Belt and Road countries. It focused on “Harnessing Technology for Quality Teacher Training in Africa”.It enhanced quality teacher training, policy and ICT teacher competencies in African countries. The beneficiary countries were Ethiopia, Namibia and Côte d’Ivoire, Congo, DR Congo, Liberia, Tanzania and Uganda. The project is a perfect model for deepening South-South cooperation between China and African countries aligned with Belt and Road platforms.
In Belt and Road countries, UNESCO has promoted science, technology and innovation policies and enhanced institutional capacity. The UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED) based at Beijing Normal University has contributed under the Belt and Road Initiative toward enhancing capacity in Belt and Road countries in Africa by focusing on quality of rural education. UNESCO has also established the International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) to strengthen the institutional capacity of African countries. Some of the capacity building activities of IICBA and conferences have been supported by Chinese institutions through UNESCO. IICBA organized a peer review meeting for the project entitled “Play and Resilience: A China-Africa Collaboration Project for Building a Peaceful and Sustainable Future” in 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The main purpose of the workshop was to review some of the resource materials developed by the project teams and to create a venue to allow different countries to learn from each other and harvest good practices. The Belt and Road Initiative is strategically aligned with the UNESCO Global Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) strategy and all member states are urged to prioritize and transform TVET systems to provide quality skills training for the youth. The enhanced institutional capacity of TVET Institutions in Belt and Road countries have provided the critical human resources required under the infrastructure projects implemented under the Belt and Road Initiative. Green skills, digitalization and automation require the curriculum system and programs of higher education institutions to be transformed to meet the labor market demands in the Belt and Road countries. The TVET Global Network of UNESCO affiliated TVET Institutions (UNEVOC Centers) has played a significant role in enhancing the capacity of TVET Institutions and assisted in skills development in the Belt and Road countries.
Under the theme of “Strengthening higher technical education in Africa for a technical and innovative workforce”, the latest phase of the UNESCO-China-Funds-In-Trust (CFIT) project has been launched in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Senegal, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda. Universities and polytechnic institutes in Côte d’Ivoire have carried out campaigns to raise awareness of STEM education for girls, whilst also providing hands-on training and workshops about mechanical engineering, telecommunications and robotics. Digital skills and competencies can increase the prospects of employability, which highlights the importance of upgrading the TVET system in alignment with the changes brought by digital transformation, the digital economy and the green economy. Another important element of inclusion in the ICT, which can promote digital competencies and ensure an equal access to information, is open educational resources. The sharing of online learning resources has also been part of the cooperation between China and Mongolia. Supported by the UN MPTF (Multi-Partner Trust Fund) joint project in Mongolia, education resources were mobilized and global dialogue facilitated between universities during COVID-19. Last year, the China-Mongolia Online Education Dialogue 2022 was hosted by the Global MOOC and Online Education Alliance, which intended to deepen the collaboration between the education institutions of both countries, and had digital transformation in higher education as the common ground. It is important for higher education institutions to jointly advance the road of digital transformation and delivery of quality education.
UNESCO and the Belt and Road Initiative programs are complimentary and mutually reinforcing, as evidenced by the proactive engagement of various UNESCO institutions, knowledge networks and platforms. They promote exchange and cooperation on many platforms given the UNESCO member states are Belt and Road countries. Further opportunities can be explored to expand the scope of cooperation between UNESCO and China within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. As emphasized in the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report on Technology in Education, the effective use of technology can address some of the challenges in education. But it is critical for education systems to deploy technologies in an appropriate manner that suits every student’s learning needs. UNESCO is committed to supporting joint initiatives to share good practices in education and skills development, and build capacity and knowledge networks which can lead to the strengthening of education systems globally. Under the existing United Nations frameworks for education, UNESCO and China can further promote policy dialogue, enhance institutional capacities and share good practices to contribute toward building a sustainable future and shared prosperity for all leaving no one behind.
The China Daily
