In today’s era global society & people of Africa has seen lot many complex situations such as Terrorism, War’s, Covid Pandemic & Fragile International Relations. Such scenario is not a good signal towards sustainable Peace & Development of any nation or continent.
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It has become very vital for responsible global peaceful community to work towards stabilizing today’s complex situation and work towards achieving sustainable development goals that are been aligned by United Nations in 2015 with target of 2030.
Education liberates the intellect, unlocks the imagination and is fundamental for self-respect. It is the key to prosperity and opens a world of opportunities, making it possible for each of us to contribute to a progressive, healthy society. Learning benefits every human being and should be available to all. One of the SDG Goal that talks about Quality Education is SDG 4.
Expected most important targets in SDG-4 set by United Nations are:
1) To ensure that all girls and boys have complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.
2) To ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.
3) To ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.
4) To substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.
5) To eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.
6) To ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy.
7) To ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development
8) Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.
9) To substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries.
10) To substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States.
Above SDGs Goals that are set need to be fulfilled by every nation and, to do so Education Diplomacy is going to play important roles in coming decades.
Education Diplomacy is comparative new field of practice in the global education sector that uses the skills of diplomacy to support progress in education by:
1.Building a collective vision around shared goals for education and using these shared goals as a basis for collaboration, cooperation, and collective action are vital among diverse actors such as Education Institutions,Universities&Governmnt Agencies so that complex education challenges can be met in aligned timelines.
2. Education diplomacy aims to utilize diplomatic skills and cooperate with both public and private sectors, educators and educational institutions, individuals and organizations, with an agenda of promoting education all over the Globe as a basic human right, accessible to all. Only through education will new generations be able to tackle new and emerging issues.
3. In Education Diplomacy: Students Exchange Programs, Cultural Exchange Programs, Faculty Exchange Programs will be play key roles.
It is well identified that global education goals such as Sustainable Development Goal 4 cannot be achieved without cooperation, coordination, and collaboration across sectors and among diverse, non-state actors in the areas of education and development who are increasingly influencing international policy, funding structures, and the proliferation of services and initiatives.
African government & its people have to take strong measure to build the right sustainable platform with right timelines for the students of Africa through not only giving quality education but also right Education Diplomatic facilitation so that Africa & its students are able to work together towards self-sufficient & developed Africa.
I being strong follower of Education Diplomacy, urges every African Government to implement Education Diplomacy in their planning process with micro detailing concepts and timeline that could benefit Africa & its people to form Peaceful, Sustainable & Self-Sufficient Africa for coming decade.
Write-up formulated by:
Col(Hon).Prof (Dr.) Dinesh Sabnis