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Excellencies,

Colleagues and friends, 

I am pleased to address you for the Launch of the 2024 Africa Dialogue Series.

Congratulations to the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa and the Office of the Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations for organizing this Series and bringing Africa’s priorities closer to the forefront.

Friends,

The overarching objective of the 2024 Africa Year of Education is to educate an African child fit for the 21st century.

This is a laudable, bold and urgent objective.

Transforming education requires that we re-imagine a world where every child and adult is enabled through learning to contribute to the future of a sustainable and inclusive world.

Our ability to meet this objective will have a defining impact on the future of our Continent.

Access for every African to quality, relevant, future-ready education and learning can transform a youth boom into youth dividend.

It can supercharge efforts to empower every woman and girl.

And it can provide the human potential for African countries to ride the wave of digital transformation and the energy revolution towards greater peace and prosperity for all.

In recent decades, Africa has made considerable progress in education.

We’ve seen primary school completion rates increase significantly; gender parity achieved in primary school participation and a massive expansion in access to tertiary education.

Today, however, we must go further, deeper and faster.

First, we must ensure that every child has access to a safe and inclusive learning environment that helps nurture their capacities to flourish within and through education.

Second, we must rethink both what and how we learn.

Equipping learners with future-fit foundational skills, with values for people and planet; and with digital skills for a rapidly changing world of work.

And shifting pedagogies to be more student centered and focused on strengthening curiosity, problem solving, critical thinking and learning societies that embrace lifelong learning

Third, we must better support teachers – putting in place the right conditions to both tackle the teacher shortage and evolve the role of teachers from one of one-directional instructors to facilitators and guides of learning.

Fourth, we must embrace the opportunities of the digital age - connecting every school to the internet, deploying new tools and teaching methods to leverage digital learning, and rethinking the entire concept of where and when we learn.

Across Africa, learners experience education in very different circumstances. Many continue to face the ravages of conflict, terrorism and displacement. Others live in densely populated cities with limited public services or in hard to reach or poorly connected areas.

We must tailor the digital and broader transformation of education to these specific circumstances. And we must advance education in a manner that adapts to and builds on our rich and diverse range of local cultures.

Finally, we must massively scale up investment in education systems. Spending on education must move from expense to investment.

An additional $77 billion annually is needed for African countries to reach their national SDG 4 targets by 2030.

Now is the time to strengthen domestic resource mobilization for education and to boost international support for countries in debt distress, where the trade-off is often education or health

To advance these shifts, we must leverage and strengthen the AU-UN partnership in the area of education.

We can do so through the 3rd High-Level Strategic Dialogue on Sustainable Development on the margins of the ADS 2024; through the work of the SDG4 High-Level Steering Committee, and through UN Country Teams whose offer in education must become more integrated and more comprehensive. 

Friends,

As we go to the Summit of the Future in September, technology will inform the outcome of the Pact for the Future.

Let’s not let education get lost in translation.

In conclusion, Let’s work together to deliver better where it matters most: on the ground and in classrooms, both virtual and in person, right across Africa.

Thank you.