The UNESCO Forum on Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Education opened in Hanoi on July 2, gathering over 350 leaders, policymakers, experts and educators from more than 100 countries.

Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha addresses the UNESCO Forum
on Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Education in Hanoi on July 2

The event, themed “Learning and Teaching for Peaceful and Sustainable Societies: From early childhood to primary and secondary education”, was organised by UNESCO, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), and the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO.

In his opening speech, MoET Minister Phung Xuan Nha said after a decade of education for sustainable development (ESD) of the UN from 2005 to 2014, ESD has become a centre of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). 

What has been done is just the beginning to move towards the SDGs by 2030 and beyond, he stressed.

Nha said since 2013, Vietnam has carried out fundamental and comprehensive educational reforms. A milestone of the effort is the approval of the national general education programme in December 2018 which aims to develop the qualification and capacity of learners and equip them with skills necessary for the 21st century.

Vietnam’s goal is not only to integrate sustainable development into education but also to use education as a tool to achieve the SDGs, he added.

However, the country is facing several problems in the programme implementation, including how education can reach and serve all people, how to update curricula and standards to meet development demand in the future, and how to turn learning into a life-long process.

These are also problems facing other countries, the official said, adding that at this forum, participants will together specify necessary actions to realise the SDGs.

The two-day forum features seven plenary sessions and four group sessions. Participants will share creative and feasible approaches to resolve existing problems and fully tap into the potential of the three learning dimensions (cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural) to achieve Target 4.7 of SDG 4 on education.

The event will provide a platform for teachers and students to talk about their demand, along with a plenary dialogue on the demand for improvement in the current educational system. Participants will also discuss potential approaches on how to fill the vacuum in pre-school, primary and secondary education to support global citizenship and sustainable development.