The UNESCO General Conference, which takes place in Paris from 9 to 24 November 2021, features a rich array of education events, including the launch of the much-anticipated Report on the Futures of Education and the Global Education Meeting on 10 November.
Below is a list of all education events organized during the General Conference.
Investing in partnership for education: Lebanon 5 Year Education Plan
Wednesday 10 November, 8:00-09:30
Co-hosted by the newly appointed Minister of Education of Lebanon and UNESCO, this event will focus on Lebanon's 5-year strategic plan for education, to rally support from donors and education partners.
Launch of the Futures of Education Report
Wednesday 10 November, 13:30-14:30
Drawing on extensive consultations with 1 million people, the International Commission has prepared the report Reimagining our futures together: a new social contract for education. This launch event will present the key ideas and recommendations of the new flagship report to Member States and kick off the mobilization of the global education community and UNESCO strategic partners to take forward the global debate and action on the futures of education.
2021 Global Education Meeting: Invest now for the recovery and the futures of education
Wednesday 10 November, 14:30-18:00
UNESCO will co-host, with the government of France, the high-level segment of the 2021 Global Education Meeting to galvanize political commitments to raise the profile of and investment in education, as a catalytic driver for the world's COVID-19 recovery, acceleration of the Education 2030 agenda and the futures of education.
Global Teacher Prize ceremony
Wednesday 10 November, 19:00-20:00
The Global Teacher Prize 2021 of the Varkey Foundation will this year be awarded in partnership with UNESCO to recognize exceptional teachers. The event will feature the laureate of this $1 million prize as well as the other nine finalists, selected from over 8,000 nominations and applications from 121 countries. The Prize was set up to recognize one exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession and to shine a spotlight on the important role teachers play in society.
CapED ministerial meeting
Thursday 11 November, 8:00- 9:30
This event will bring together Education Ministers and representatives from the 26 CapED beneficiary countries as well as donors supporting this UNESCO programme. The meeting will focus on lessons learned from the COVID-19 education response in the areas supported by the Programme and serve as a platform to share good practices and common challenges.
Healthy & Educated: the double dividend of investing in health and well-being through education
Thursday 11 November, 14:00-15:00
Co-hosted by UNESCO and the government of Sweden, this event will highlight the positive, transformative effects of education for health and well-being. It will explore the main health and well-being challenges faced by children and young people, the recommended approach to school health, and UNESCO's role in driving forward comprehensive sexuality education and safe school environments.
The Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education
Thursday 11 November, 18:00-19:00
Two years after the adoption of the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education, this event will renew momentum around this global treaty and support Member States' efforts to both ratify and implement it. Co-organized by the governments of Norway, Tunisia and the United Kingdom in cooperation with UNESCO, the event will highlight the key benefits of joining the Global Convention, including facilitating the recognition of qualifications, and the mobility and circulation of knowledge and research between countries.
SDG 4 benchmarks, visualizations and data gaps linking global, regional and national levels
Friday 12 November, 8:30-9:30
This high-level policy dialogue event will look at key developments on monitoring progress towards SDG 4, the global education goal, from a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Co-hosted by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, the event will offer an opportunity to build momentum around the development of national benchmarks for measuring progress towards SDG 4.
Global Education Coalition: Acting for recovery, resilience and reimagining education
Friday 12 November, 13:15-14:45
As the annual meeting of UNESCO's Global Education Coalition, this event will bring together partners to share their projects, successes, and lessons learnt since the launch of the Coalition in March 2020. This event will also be an opportunity to discuss the future of the Coalition and its next steps in supporting learning recovery, digital transformation and continuing to work towards SDG 4.
UNESCO-Japan ESD Prize Award Ceremony
Friday 19 November, 13:30-15:00
The 2021 laureates of the UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development will be celebrated during this award ceremony. Three laureates will receive 50,000 USD to expand their actions for further scaling up.
