FORUM: ‘‘The power of youth in co-creating education.’’ International Day of Education 2026. Youth under 30 constitute more than half of the global population. They are a driving force for sustainable development, innovation and social transformation, yet they remain disproportionately affected by poverty, inequality and limited access to quality education and decent work opportunities.When it comes to shaping the future of education, youth have a special role to play: they are the beneficiaries of education programmes and their future depends on it. For this reason, meaningfully engaging students and youth in co-creating the education they want is essential to meet their aspirations and ambitions. This is particularly true at a time of radical transformation induced by the technological revolution, which calls for rethinking the purpose and modalities of teaching and learning.This commitment aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which recognizes the role of youth as agents of change in achieving inclusive and equitable quality education and building peaceful, just and inclusive societies. Although progress has been made in involving young people and students in global decision making in education – including by securing them a permanent seat alongside global leaders in the SDG 4 High-Level Steering Committee – more needs to be done to ensure they are co-creators of education systems at all levels: at school, at country level, in international development cooperation programmes and so. The Youth Declaration on Transforming Education is a tangible result of youth’s willingness and capacity to contribute to strategic dialogues in education. Their initiatives at grassroots level, where young people play an instrumental role in supporting their peers with the provision of education – especiallyin crisis situations – are instrumental to take informed decisions: they need to be better brought to light, mainstreamed and considered. This year’s International Day of Education will celebrate the power of youth as co-creators of education. This will be done by: 1. Taking stock of national efforts to involve youth in educational decision-making, through anew report by the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report team, in partnership with the UN Youth Office, which measures student and youth participation in education laws and policy-making. R equested by the SDG4 High-Level Steering Committee in 2022, this new measurementholds countries accountable for the ir commitments to meaningfully engage youth made at the United Nations’ Transforming Education Summit and in the Pact for the Future. 2. Showcasing how UNESCO is leading the way by giving youth a voice in decision-making bodies such as the SDG 4 High -Level Steering Committee, placing them at the centre of global consultations for the post -2030 education agenda and amplifying their voices through UNESCO networks such as ASP net, SDG4 Youth & Student Network, the Global Youth Community, and the Youth Climate Action Network. On the ground, UNESCO empowers youth as leaders and changemakers, notably in crisis-affected contexts. 3. Introducing tools to ensure meaningful youth engagement in education at school and beyond, which were developed by the SDG4 Youth & Student Network and the UNESCO Associated Schools Network. 4. Highlighting youth-led initiatives in crisis-affected contexts that help safeguard the right to education for all, particularly for the most marginalized. As we shape the 2026 GEM Report consultation, we would love your input. What should be prioritized?, Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #EndLearningPoverty, #Education2030, #DayofEducation, #24January, #EducationforPeace, #Learningforpeace, #education, SDG4.
EVENTS: On Saturday, January 24th, The UNESCO and its member states will mark the International Day of Education 2026 under the theme “The power of youth in co-creating education.” On Friday, January 23rd; From 10:00 a.m. to 17:00 p.m at UNESCO HQ Paris, Room I and Room VII; The global celebration will highlight how young people are shaping the future of learning and how everyone can help amplify their leadership. Youth under 30 make up more than half the world’s population, yet they remain underrepresented in education decision-making. By participating you help build a global movement advocating for inclusive, relevant and youth-centered education systems. The Observance of the International Day of Education 2026 will be marked through youth-led and participatory celebrations:
• A global event convening youth and students alongside international decision-makers will be hosted at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 23 January 2026 from 10 am to 1 pm (Paris time).
• An online youth-led event will feature young people’s stories and their role in advancing quality education in conflict-affected contexts on 23 January 2026 from 3 to 5 pm (Paris time). The event will be organized by the SDG 4 Youth & Student Network in cooperation with other UNESCO networks and partners, notably the UNESCO Associated Schools Network (ASPnet).
• An online action for youth and students to participate in the celebrations around International Day for Education will accompany other activities to drive visibility and engagement.
• The issuing of a call for good practices on meaningful youth engagement in education, which will be featured in the SDG 4 Knowledge Hub.
Register to participate (via indico), get the agenda programme and watch the livestream!
STATEMENTS: Read the Statement by the United Nations Secretary-General on International Day of Education 2026; January 24th.
Education is a human right, and a springboard to greater opportunity, dignity and peace.
Yet around the world, 272 million children and young people lack access to education because of poverty, discrimination, conflict, displacement and disasters.
On this International Day of Education, I call on all governments, partners and donors to prioritize education in their policies, budgets and recovery efforts. We must close the persistent gaps in financing, access and quality that lock young people out of the future they seek and deserve.
As this year’s theme reminds us, we particularly need to listen to the voices of young people themselves, and act on their pleas for qualified teachers, relevant skills and competencies training for a changing world, and equitable access to technology.
Together, let’s build inclusive, resilient and innovative education systems for all people.
António Guterres, Secretary-General.
On this International Day of Education, UNESCO is putting young people in the spotlight.
It is our collective responsibility to offer younger generations, through education, better
prospects for the future than those of the generations that came before. It is with this in
mind that UNESCO helps its Member States to ensure that access to quality education
is a reality for all, and not a privilege of the few.
Around the world, UNESCO implements major educational programmes to unlock the
potential of the millions of young people who need it most. This is the “UNESCO for the
people” that we are striving to build.
UNESCO runs large-scale education programmes using funds from the Global
Partnership for Education. This is the case in places such as Côte d’Ivoire, Cambodia,
Ukraine and Chad, where nearly 100,000 out-of-school young people have been able to
return to school.
We also work in the most challenging contexts, amid crises. In Haiti, for instance, we are
supporting community schools in the most vulnerable neighbourhoods. In Afghanistan,
we have established literacy programmes for young women. In Gaza, we are helping to
maintain learning continuity and providing young people with vital psychological
assistance. We also act in the aftermath of crises, as is the case in Iraq, where we have
renovated more than 400 classrooms in the province of Nineveh.
However, access to education is not enough. At a time when climate challenges and
technological changes are affecting traditional teaching methods on a large scale,
education can no longer be conceived of without young people’s input; it can no longer
ignore the voices of those it is intended to benefit. Young people must be included in the
construction of education.
Yet according to a new UNESCO study, while four out of five countries report having
consulted young people on educational laws and policies in the last three years, only
one out of five youth and student organizations feels that students and youth are
genuinely working hand-in-hand with their governments.
Because education systems are more effective when designed in collaboration with the
people they are intended to serve, UNESCO calls for greater involvement of young
people in the development of the education policies and decision-making processes
which affect them.
It is this conviction that drives UNESCO’s work. Today we are presenting a new study
under the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, developed in collaboration with
the Office of the Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs. This edition of the GEMReport includes, for the first time, an international indicator for measuring young people’s actual participation in the development of education policies, thereby responding to a
request made in 2022 by young people themselves at the Transforming Education
Summit.
In the same spirit, we are launching a new cohort of the SDG4 Youth & Student Network:
110 young people from 80 countries, involved in consultations on the future of education
and the post-2030 global agenda.
On this International Day of Education, we are reaffirming a simple yet powerful belief:
the belief that young people have a rightful place at the decision-making table – not only
as beneficiaries, but also as full-fledged partners.
Mr Khaled El-Enany, Director-General of UNESCO.
The 2026 GEM Report aims to address the following questions:
- Among countries that started from similar levels of education development, which countries have improved much faster than others or stagnated in terms of early childhood education participation, out-of-school rates, completion rates and tertiary participation?
- Have they managed to reduce disparity?
- Among countries that have improved fast (or stagnated), what are the 2-3 key reasons that help explain the observed trends?
- What policies does research identify as having played a key role for improving education participation and reducing disparity in the long term – and how do they relate to factors put forward in country analyses?
- What is the role of financing policies to promote equity?
- What are the implications of the statistical, country case study and policy analyses for a forward looking education agenda?
The recommendations would cover a range of issues, including: scope for improvement in approaches to monitoring participation at different education levels; lessons from past progress records on feasible but ambitious targets for an agenda post-2030 and a reflection on the implication for the right to education; mechanisms for setting targets; policy principles that have served countries that have expanded faster; and scope for improvement in approaches to monitoring policies. As the 2030 deadline draws nearer, there is a clear demand to take comprehensive stock of the progress achieved since the start of SDG 4. In this context, following a recommendation of the independent external evaluation of the GEM Report, its Advisory Board has recommended bringing education statistics to the forefront and introducing changes to the next three report cycles in the form of a Countdown to 2030 series.
The first report in the series will look at four indicators:
Equity measures will be examined as part of the country case studies. In addition, some countries will also be selected directly based on analysis of progress in inequality measures.
For each one of the indicators and for a broad set of equity measures, five countries of fast progress and two countries of stagnation will be analysed – a total of 35 countries – to provide a representative set of examples. The aim is not to pick the ‘best’ performing countries in the world but a regionally balanced set of countries that moved fast, given their initial conditions and contexts.
Save the date: 2026 GEM Report launch on 25 March 2026.
The 2026 Global Education Monitoring Report, Countdown to 2030: Access and equity, will be launched on 25th March, 2026. The full-day event will follow the 23-24th March meeting of the Global Education Coalition, both taking place in UNESCO HQ in Paris, France. The report is the first in a three-part series of Countdown to 2030 reports, the next of which will cover learning and quality (2027) and relevance (2028/9). The 2026 GEM Report will provide the latest data and analysis on key global education indicators: the out-of-school rate, completion rate, early childhood participation, and higher education enrolment, including case studies of countries that have improved much faster than their peers over the past two decades. It will contain the analysis of a new series of GEM PEER country profiles on equitable finance mechanisms.
For additional information about the global launch on 25 March, visit this page.
The first report in the series will look at four indicators:
- Early childhood participation (SDG global indicator 4.2.2)
- Out-of-school rate (SDG thematic indicator 4.1.4
- Completion rate (SDG global indicator 4.1.2
- Tertiary education gross enrolment ratio (SDG thematic indicator 4.3.2)
Equity measures will be examined as part of the country case studies. In addition, some countries will also be selected directly based on analysis of progress in inequality measures.
For each one of the indicators and for a broad set of equity measures, five countries of fast progress and two countries of stagnation will be analysed – a total of 35 countries – to provide a representative set of examples. The aim is not to pick the ‘best’ performing countries in the world but a regionally balanced set of countries that moved fast, given their initial conditions and contexts.
Save the date: 2026 GEM Report launch on 25 March 2026.
The 2026 Global Education Monitoring Report, Countdown to 2030: Access and equity, will be launched on 25th March, 2026. The full-day event will follow the 23-24th March meeting of the Global Education Coalition, both taking place in UNESCO HQ in Paris, France. The report is the first in a three-part series of Countdown to 2030 reports, the next of which will cover learning and quality (2027) and relevance (2028/9). The 2026 GEM Report will provide the latest data and analysis on key global education indicators: the out-of-school rate, completion rate, early childhood participation, and higher education enrolment, including case studies of countries that have improved much faster than their peers over the past two decades. It will contain the analysis of a new series of GEM PEER country profiles on equitable finance mechanisms.
For additional information about the global launch on 25 March, visit this page.
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