UN House in Sarajevo hosts Consultations on Transforming Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina
01 June 2022
A meeting on transforming education process took place today at the UN House in Sarajevo, gathering education ministers from all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The event marks the official kick-off of the national consultations on transforming education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, scheduled for the month of June, bringing together relevant stakeholders from the education sector (academia, civil society organisations, youth organisations and parents’ associations, including parents of children with disabilities). The BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs is coordinating the consultations, with the technical assistance from UNESCO and UNICEF in BiH.
The consultations aim to formulate the main priorities and future commitments in the education systems in BiH, to be presented during the Transforming Education Summit, convened by the United Nations Secretary-General in September in New York.
There is a growing need globally to transforming education after disruptions in education caused by COVID-19, which further deepened the inequalities in education.
The United Nations Resident Coordinator in BiH, Dr. Ingrid Macdonald, noted: “COVID-19 disrupted education globally, profoundly impacting children, parents and teachers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Yet, it also presents a once in a generation opportunity to re-build education systems to be more inclusive and more sustainable, including in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The upcoming Transforming Education Summit will bring together world leaders in New York to mobilize forward looking action, ambition, solidarity and solutions needed to transform education systems. This ambitious reinvigoration is critical if we are to achieve the SDG commitments under Agenda2030. Bosnia and Herzegovina was one of the first countries to recognize the need to Reimagine Education, and acted swiftly with the support of the United Nations Secretary General’s COVID-19 Recovery Fund together with UNESCO, UNICEF and ILO. We have made an important start. The United Nations is proud to continue these efforts to ensure that every child has access to quality education and no child is left behind in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
National consultations in BiH will serve to undertake commitments on reimagining education, to help recover pandemic-related learning losses, and revitalize efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) by 2030.
“UNESCO has been working for 75 years to build a fairer, more inclusive, sustainable, healthy world through education. Regrettably, the lessons learned have not prepared us for the challenges we face today. That is why we need education which is responsive to changes, but also changing the perception of education at the same time”, Ms. Ankica Gudeljević, the Minister of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina said in her address, noting that all Ministers of Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina gathered to exchange views on the important issues and translate that discussion into guidelines, goals and measures for joint further action for the future of the education sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
During the month of June, two more consultative meetings are to take place with representatives of civil society organisations and academia, as well as young people – whose voice will be in focus during the Global Summit on Transforming Education in September.
