It is noteworthy to mention that Education, was never considered before as the AU Theme of the year. From 17 to 19 September 2022, the UN Secretary General, M. Antonio Guterres convened a global Summit on Transforming Education. Amidst so many other serious global matters, this summit was deemed urgent and given priority, on grounds that, globally, education is in deep crisis, and progress towards the
attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education (SDG4), was badly off track.1 That is why the SG wanted to impulse “a one-in-a-generation” opportunity to address this global education crisis by renewing collective commitment and joint action.
Africa weighs heavier than other continents in the gaps towards achievement of SDG4 objectives, which are also reflected in our Continental Education Strategy CESA (16-25).
In this context, the ESTI Department, in collaboration with its UN and other partners, notably UNESCO, UNICEF, and WFP meticulously prepared and coordinated the organization of an AU High-level side event, which took place on the 20 September 2022 in New York.
The preparatory process started as early as June 2022. HE, the Commissioner for ESTI, set up a task team which was highly inclusive, bringing together AU clusters on Education, technical expertise from the Continent and abroad, development partners, civil society, private sector and youth representatives. The task team engaged in iterative exercises aimed at coming up with a series of concrete, realistic recommendations which served as a basis for a formal declaration submitted to the AU High Level side-event and constituted a roadmap for Member States and the AU Commission to translate the Transforming Education SSummit’s recommendations into actions, tailored to the African context.
The draft declaration was reviewed and adopted by the 4th session of the Specialised Technical Committee on Education, Science and Technology (STCEST4).
On 20 September 2022, the High-level side event on Transforming Education in the specific context of Africa was held in the premises of the AU in New York. It was chaired by HE President Macky Sall, in his capacity as the Chair of the African Union, in the presence of HE Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AUC.
