This post is the seventh in a blog series published in 2019 in the context of a collaboration between the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE)
August 12 was first designated International Youth Day by the UN General Assembly in 1999, and serves as an annual celebration of the role of young women and men as essential partners in change. This day is also an opportunity to raise awareness of challenges and problems facing the world’s youth.
2019 theme: “Transforming education”
There are currently 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 in the world. This is the largest youth population ever.
Africa is currently the youngest continent in the world and will continue to be for the next several decades. By 2100, almost half of the world’s young people will be African.
Over the next few decades, young Africans will play a critical role in the social and economic development of the continent. The continent’s efforts to educate its youth will have vast implications for its economic development, stability and prosperity.
This year’s theme highlights efforts to make education more inclusive, equitable and accessible for all youth, including efforts by youth themselves. Inclusive, equitable access to education is crucial to achieve sustainable development and can play a role in the prevention of conflict.
Indeed, education is a ‘development multiplier’ and a powerful crosscutting instrument as it plays a pivotal role in accelerating progress across both the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Africa’s Agenda 2063.
ADEA’s contribution to transform Africa’s education and training
Today, Africa can seize the opportunity offered by its demographic shift by investing in human capital development, particularly at the secondary education level in which youth gain the skills and knowledge needed to be productive citizens.
The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) – the voice of education and training on the African continent for the past 31 years –recently organized its High-Level Annual Policy Dialogue on Secondary Education in Africa: Preparing Youth for the Future of Work.
This important continental event concluded that it is indeed critical to reform secondary education in Africa by enhancing the teaching profession, quality learning, 21stcentury skills provision, and embracing innovation and information and communication technology (ICT) if we want to better prepare African youth for the changing future of work.