Lilia and Ranja want young voices to be heard to transform education

The two GPE youth leaders share their thoughts and reflections on what it will take to truly make education a reality for children around the world.

August 29, 2022 by GPE Secretariat

5 minutes read

Young girl in her classroom in Sri Lanka. Credit: World Bank/Deshan Tennekoon — Young girl in her classroom in Sri Lanka.

Credit: World Bank/Deshan Tennekoon

At the Transforming Education pre-Summit in Paris in June, two GPE youth leaders, Lilia Touil and Ranja Diab from France, shared their thoughts and reflections on what it will take to truly make education a reality for children around the world.

Lilia Touil

Lilia is a Law Student at the University of Paris. She is currently studying a master's degree in International and European Law in order to become a practicing international lawyer that advocates against injustice.

Ranja Diab

Ranja is a German expat based in Paris with degrees in law and humanitarian organization management. She is deeply engaged in the promotion of gender equality and access to education for all.

If you could summarize the Transforming Education Pre-Summit in Paris, in one paragraph, what would you say?

“To have been able to participate was really an unmissable and unique opportunity, especially in the premises of UNESCO, a flagship institution for educational and cultural matters. We are often discredited, told that we are too young to understand or to act. The TES really disproved this preconceived idea by putting forward the voice and personal experiences that are valuable and illustrative of current issues that we might know better than the decision makers.
The TES brought us together collaborate with other young leaders and work hand in hand with the decision-makers and co-create solutions. It is often said that summits are the end of something, but I am convinced of the contrary. TES must inspire the creation of more similar events in other areas related to the SDGs to contribute to the success of the 2030 agenda by including us, the youth.”

Lilia

“I would say that it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime-experience. The place to be if you want to raise your voice for education and to be heard by the people who need to listen to it: the decision and policy makers who get to decide who will be able to hold a pen and a textbook tomorrow. It was also a gathering of engaged, inspiring and progress-driven young people from all over the world, who fight for better conditions and access to a good quality education for all.”

Ranja

What was the highlight of the summit for you personally?

“I recall the position of Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner in charge of international partnerships. I know her real attachment to the questions of youth inclusion in the decision process. I had the chance to participate in a roundtable in her presence last September in Paris and to exchange with her on the importance of including youth in the reconstruction of the Europe-Africa partnerships as part of my participation in the task force Europe/Africa of the NGO ONE.
Ms. Urpilainen renewed her strong wish to include youth in the decision-making process, which she did by creating a youth group to advise her in her decisions. When I see that youth inclusion is a real priority for some decision makers, I am hopeful that such a position will become generalized and inspire other decision makers. This will contribute to the elevation of the voice of youth and give more echo to the Youth Declaration, which is an important document that will bring together the ideas and considerations of young people and can be taken up by decision-makers.”

Lilia

“GPE organized a meeting with Neema Lugangira, a Tanzanian MP, and member of the International Parliamentary Network for Education. I had met her the day before at a roundtable on ending school violence. We continued to discuss on this topic during our personal meeting and ended up exchanging our contact information, in order to work together with engaged young leaders on a project about ending corporal punishment in schools. I find it so amazing how the summit also was a place to create these exciting little opportunities!”

Ranja

Why do you think transforming education is important? And what more needs to take place to make this happen?

“Today, education, a fundamental human right, is relegated to the status of a privilege, while millions of children have incredible potential and the ability to change their future and contribute to the development of their country, but they do not have the means to do so. Transforming education is vital when we know that girls like us are prey to situations of great precarity and victims of all types of violence aggravated by the pandemic.
To transform education and ensure that girls and women are no longer at the top of the pyramid of vulnerability, it will be necessary to coordinate the actions of all the actors in global governance and to increase the financing of initiatives such as those of GPE, which has been working on the ground for 20 years to help populations and advise governments.”

Lilia

“Today the fact that there are still more than 200 million children with no or interrupted education is the proof that the current education system is not working effectively enough to ensure an equal access to education for ALL. So this is why we need to transform this system, and that will take both sides: the already educated ones and the ones being currently educated.
This means that the policy makers absolutely need to involve children and young adults in their decision-making processes, as these decisions impact the current and future educated ones the most. They can also give immediate feedback on what is working well or badly in regard to education. So this is why transforming education also means transforming decision making: it means making it inclusive and giving everyone the chance to participate and raise their voice for the same cause: a quality education for all.”

Ranja

Focus areas: SDG 4, Youth

September 02, 2022 by البروفيسور بشير محمودي خبير ومستشار في التربية

اذا اردنا ان نشرك فعلا المتعلمين في التسيير التشاركي للتعليم يجب ان نبدا بالمدرسة و من المراحل الاولى من التعليم حتي نستطيع تكوين شباب قادر فعلا على المشاركة في صناعة القرار او الالهام و المساعدة في صناعة القرار ووضع السياسات التعليمية. و هذا لا يتحقق لا بتكوين فرق او مجموعات لتمثيل الطلاب داخل المدارس و العمل على ادماجهم و اشراكهم للمساهمة في ما يخصهم من قرارات و مبادرات داخل المدرسة او حتى خارج المدرسة لتمثيلها وتدريب الطلاب على القيام بادوار قيادية تحسسهم بالانتماء الحقيقي لفضاء نابع منهم و ليس فضاءا مفروضا عليهم على ان يشارك كل الطلاب و التمثيل ما هو الا تمكين حضور صوت الطلاب في انشطة و و برامج المدرسة مهما كانت طبيعتها .ليصبح الطلاب محل استشارة و مصدر الهام في الوقت نفسه. ومن اجل الوصول الى هذا لا بد من تكوين المتعلمين داخل المدارس في لقاءات و ورش عمل خارج الفصول الدراسية حول كل ما يتعلق بالحياة المدرسية و هكذا يمكن ان نعتمد على جيل صانع لمستقبله ايجابي و مؤثر في الحياة و طموح الى القيادة و المبادرة .وهذا نتمثله حقيقية في رنجا دياب و ليليا طويل و غيرهما من قادة الشباب في العالم و قادة الشباب في منظمة الشراكة العالمية من اجل التعليم.

September 11, 2022 by Yeo Mohamed

Très intéressant leurs différents avis.
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Lilia Touil

Ranja Diab

If you could summarize the Transforming Education Pre-Summit in Paris, in one paragraph, what would you say?

What was the highlight of the summit for you personally?

Why do you think transforming education is important? And what more needs to take place to make this happen?

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