Young women discuss life skills at a school in Jharkhand, India.
This article is published in association with United Nations.
With young people under 30 making up more than half of the global population and over 272 million children and youth still out of school, their participation in shaping education is becoming increasingly vital.
Yet stark inequalities remain — in the poorest countries, 36 per cent of children and youth are out of school compared to just 3 per cent in the richest — underscoring the urgent need for inclusive, youth-driven approaches to education policy and transformation.
© UNESCO
Marco Pasqualini (2nd left) works for UNESCO in Paris.
Ahead of the International Day of Education, the theme for which this year is “The power of youth in co-creating education,” UN News’s Charlotte Frantz spoke with Marco Pasqualini from UNESCO and Jacques Kwibuka, a UN young leader from Rwanda, about the importance of young people’s voices in shaping education systems around the world.
Marco Pasqualini: When it comes to education, young people have a particular stake, because they’re the primary beneficiaries of education, and because educational priorities and reforms have a direct impact on them.
Co-creating education means giving them a voice to define their priorities and acknowledge young people’s willingness to make meaningful change.
Jacques Kwibuka: In the past, those designing policies in the education sector would think about what they were going to implement, assuming that because they were once young, they already understood what young people are facing.
But with co-creation, we don’t only think about young people, we engage them and give them the space and freedom to contribute to the programme or policy being developed.
© Informed Future Generations
Jacques Kwibuka participates in a UNICEF networking event.
It’s not just about consulting young people, but about truly involving them in the decision-making process of the policy, model, or system being built.
Marco Pasqualini: Despite a lot of progress being made, inequalities in access to education are still very strong. There still are 272 million children and youth out of school, and the regional disparities remain stark.
In the poorest countries, out-of-school children and youth represent 36 per cent of the age school population compared to 3 per cent only in the richest countries.
These inequalities are even higher for youth with disabilities, ethnic and linguistic minorities, refugees and migrants as well as LGBTQ youth.
Jacques Kwibuka: Two categories of challenges stand out to me.
The first one is about mindset — the mindset on the side of elders or institutions, especially those working in education.
They often undervalue the voices of young people. They want to hear what young people think, but without giving them a real opportunity to contribute meaningfully.
© UNICEF/Habib Kanobana
A young child attends school in Burera District, Rwanda.
Another mindset-related challenge is on the side of young people. Many young people, especially in rural areas, tend to undermine themselves because of low self-esteem or because they think such opportunities are meant only for highly educated individuals. Even when they are given the opportunity to contribute to a policy being designed or created, they hold themselves back and do not speak up.
For organisations like UNESCO, they should create more open spaces, including online platforms, to show that when young people — especially children — are meaningfully involved in co-creating education systems, the results improve.
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When young people are not fully involved in shaping education systems or school environments, it often leads to gaps in learning and misinformation.
Marco Pasqualini: Indeed, the lack of platforms is also one of the main barriers.
So, what we created a few years ago is a network of young, I like to call them leaders and
experts, because young people really have an expertise in education. It’s called the SDG4 Youth and Student Network. Today, we have 110 members from 80 countries, which were selected out of 5000 applicants.
The opportunity that they have through this SDG4 Youth and Student Network to sit with leaders is really bringing a lot of visibility and interest.
SDG4 is the sustainable development goal number four of the agenda for sustainable development, which focuses on quality education. It’s a global commitment to achieve a certain level of quality education by 2030.
Jacques Kwibuka: I have hope for the future. As technology improves, young people are becoming more informed and meaningfully engaged.
In Rwanda, many young people are leading initiatives that support education. With platforms — such as those supported by UNICEF — we are empowering each other and strengthening our collective voice.
If this continues, I believe the future will include meaningful engagement of young people and children in co-creating health and education models and systems, in Rwanda and beyond.
Marco Pasqualini: Despite the world being in turmoil and multilateralism unfortunately at stake, I see a strong interest in education and everybody wanting to be part of the conversation.
UNESCO is the UN agency leading on education. Our commitment is very strong. And in my case, I’m very happy to be here. I think it’s the right place to be at the heart of this process to change education.
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