Ministers and government representatives reaffirmed education as a fundamental right and essential for peaceful, inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth and prosperity in the Latin America region, at a regional Education for All (EFA) UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) meeting.
The resulting Lima Statement highlights inequality as a major challenge for the region, and recommends reducing inequality and poverty through inclusive equality education and lifelong learning for all.
5 November 2014: Ministers and government representatives reaffirmed education as a fundamental right and essential for peaceful, inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth and prosperity in the Latin America region, at a regional Education for All (EFA) UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) meeting. The resulting Lima Statement highlights inequality as a major challenge for the region, and recommends reducing inequality and poverty through inclusive equality education and lifelong learning for all.
The Regional Ministerial Meeting, titled ‘Education for All in Latin America and the Caribbean: Current State and Post-2015 Challenges,’ is part of a global conversation on defining the global post-2015 education agenda, and aims to contribute to discussions on the post-2015 development agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The priorities agreed upon at the meeting will be presented at the World Education Forum in May 2015.
The Lima Statement outlines seven priority action areas: equality, quality and inclusion; inclusive and equitable lifelong learning for all; skills and competencies for life and work; education for sustainable development (ESD); quality of education; teachers, educators, school principals and school leaders; and governance and financing.
UNESCO’s Director of Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jorge Sequeira, said “the declaration reflects the region’s diversity and its hunger for sustainable and lasting development through new education goals.” Qian Tang, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education, also underscored the role of education in the region’s sustainable development, saying it could help end inequality and extreme poverty. He described better quality teaching as “the greatest challenge in the education agenda worldwide,” and called for increased public investment in education.
The Statement requests UNESCO to continue to lead the coordination of the post-2015 education agenda, and continue the development of monitoring instruments such as the Global Monitoring Report.
The Regional Ministerial Meeting took place in Lima, Peru, on 30-31 October 2014. [UNESCO Press Release] [Publication: Lima Statement] [Meeting Website]