President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged Member States of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), to prioritise education in the development agenda of countries.
President Akufo-Addo said the support of UNESCO towards developing sustainable homegrown financial solutions was imperative in developing the "educational system for the future we want in our various countries."
Addressing the 215th Meeting of the Executive Board of UNESCO, on Monday in Paris, President Akufo-Addo, who is the Domestic Financing champion of the Global Partnership for Education, said the world does not have the luxury to pick and choose which crises it wants to fix.
"At this moment, we cannot pick and choose between funding guns and education. We cannot pick and choose between the interests of the present generation and the future of our girls and boys. We cannot choose geopolitical concerns over preserving our cherished cultural heritages, lest we perish universally," he said.
The President said due to global instability, education has become a major competing priority of domestic budgets, with development aid to the education sector seriously under pressure.
He said countries, immediately after the insurgent of the COVID-19 pandemic, reduced their spending on education while at the same time, direct aid to education by bilateral donors fell by some $359 million, a situation, incompatible with the objectives of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda for financing sustainable development and the goals of the SDGs.
President Akufo-Addo disclosed that prospects for reaching the funding target, through voluntary contributions, were uncertain, as several long-term donors had reduced significantly their voluntary contributions to UNESCO due to changes in development cooperation priorities.
That, he indicated, had significantly impacted "our planned programme implementation."
Despite these challenges, the President commended UNESCO for its lead role in ensuring the success of the Transforming Education Summit, which was held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September, this year.
The Transforming Education Summit, and the pre-summit held in Paris, according to President Akufo-Addo, had been extremely successful in getting the world to reflect deeply on the trajectory of educational systems, and how to address the challenges.
Speaking to the Global Priority Africa Programme, adopted by the UNESCO General Conference at its 41st Session, the President commended UNESCO for making Africa a Global Priority, and more importantly UNESCO's flagship programmes relevant to achieving the objectives of the Africa Union's Agenda 2063.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
He also urged UNESCO's Executive Board to help win the fight against Climate Change, especially as the planet was heading towards a dangerous tipping point as a result of climate change.
President Akufo-Addo applauded UNESCO for the effort to strengthen the "Man and Biosphere Programme", whose goal is to help protect nature and biodiversity loss globally, through the Biosphere Reserve Concept.
"I urge the UNESCO Member States to strengthen measures, at their respective national levels, that recognise formally the contribution of Biosphere Reserves, and designate more biosphere reserves and geoparks as a sure way for solving the climate crisis", he added.
President Akufo-Addo announced that Accra has been named the UNESCO World Book Capital for 2023, making Accra part of the prestigious World Book Capital Cities Network.
That, the President indicated, was an acknowledgement of the giant strides Ghana and Africa are making to develop Ghana's book and creative arts industry.
The year-long programme to celebrate the honour done to Ghana by UNESCO, according to President Akufo-Addo, would commence on 23rd April 2023, a day celebrated globally as World Book and Copyright Day.
"I wish to use this opportunity to invite you all to join Ghana in this year-long celebration," the President added.
