Education policy-making during times of crises

24 Octobre 2019

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IIEP-UNESCO/Buenos Aires

In Latin America, a growing number of natural disasters, rising economic and political instability, and armed conflicts and population displacement, are putting education systems at risk. The task for education policy-makers and planners is to confront these extreme situations with prevention, response, and mitigation measures, as well as through crisis-sensitive educational planning. This will help secure the path towards ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all people.

To help advance this, the Latin American Regional Forum on Educational Policies, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 30 September – 2 October 2019, focused on Education policy in times of crisis. Opening the three-day event, Lilia Calmet, advisor to the Ministry of Education of Peru, referred to the role of education amid weakening democratic systems in the region.

"If school does not develop a strong sense of citizenship we will not be able to train citizens with the skills needed to address the different crises that our countries are experiencing," Calmet said.

The Forum also included opportunities for dialogue in which government representatives discussed the lessons learned from experiences in their countries, as well as the type of changes required to bolster their responses to current or anticipated crises. The participants agreed on the necessary actions to face the effects of the different types of crises, and to anticipate them through crisis-sensitive educational planning.

About the Latin American Regional Education Policy Forum

 

Held annually since 2017, the Regional Education Policy Forum takes place in Buenos Aires and constitutes a space for dialogue, consultation, and peer learning, for ministerial authorities of Latin American countries, representatives of civil society and international organizations, and experts in education policy. It enables participants to reflect collectively on the challenges that the adoption of the Education 2030 Agenda represents for these countries, in terms of planning and managing their public education policies.

UNESCO, UNICEF, and the SM Foundation provided support for the third edition of this event.