Poor, inadequate or no education leads to calamitous consequences, appearing in the form of violence, climate disasters, poverty, inequalities, discrimination and threats to global peace. In turn, these consequences are threatening education itself. Reform is not enough. A transformation is needed, and that must begin with education.
The arrival of Covid-19 made the education crisis more acute and made a discussion on digital transformations critical. While digital connectivity helped mitigate the devastating impact of school closures due to Covid-19, a sharp digital divide that already existed between the haves and have nots was exacerbated.
The outcomes of the discussion will feed into the fourth thematic action line on digital learning and transformation for the Transforming Education Summit, and inform the ongoing research being carried out for the 2023 GEM Report on technology and education.
This consultation will seek to consolidate public engagement and interest in ways to repair past injustices and orient the digital transformation around inclusion and equity. Enabling meaningful engagement and feedback from multiple stakeholders will help design the shape of a new path for education, which better serves people and helps our societies to live peacefully with one another and with our planet. Information exchange and sharing of best practices will drive change for good; identifying evidence-based examples of education technology policies and financing based on national experiences will be critical input to the 2023 GEM Report, which will be a strong policy-making tool for the future.
The high-level dialogue is being hosted by UNESCO during the World Summit on the Information Society Forum 2022, the world’s largest annual gathering of the ICT for development community.
The 90-minute high-level dialogue will be divided in two sessions: a brief presentation of the Transforming Education Summit and thematic action line 4 on digital learning and transformation followed by a consultation on the 2023 GEM Report on technology and education.
The consultation will feature a presentation of the 2023 GEM Report concept note followed by a discussion with experts and stakeholders working on ICT for development. The discussions will focus on issues related to the distribution of access to technology in education within and between countries and policies and programmes that promote access to technology and equity.