The UN general Assembly is devoting 24 days in 2013 to an open working group on sustainable development goals. Of these just part of one day (in November) is devoted to education, with "employment and decent work for all", "social protection", and "youth" also being foci for that session.
Given that this is to cover all education (including ESD it's to be presumed, though there is no mention of that), this doesn't sound a lot, and does not look like a ringing endorsement of the importance of education (and learning) to sustainable development as both idea and practice.
However, a cheerier view is that little time needs to be devoted to eduction, per se, in a formal session, as it is bound to crop up in every other session. For example, how would it be possible to do justice to issues such as:
- health and population
- climate change
- disaster risk reduction
- promoting equality
- etc
... unless there were a focus on education and learning? Indeed!
Which of these views will prevail I wonder. See you in New York anyway! If you can't wait, details are here, including gripping UNTV coverage of work so far. Why this isn't on Channel 4 prime time every day is beyond me.
Respond