The role of education in the sustainable development agenda

The role of education in the sustainable development agenda: Empowering a learning society for sustainability through quality education.

Education has a long history as an international priority, and the right to education was first enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Improving education and ensuring all people are afforded a high standard of education will be reaffirmed as a key global goal of development under the post-2015 development agenda. The recent synthesis report of the UN Secretary-General on the post-2015 development agenda stated that “high-quality education and life-long learning” and the capacity of teachers are key factors in empowering youth as a “globally connected engine for change” (UN Secretary General, 2014: 21-2). In fact, many people around the world believe that education is the most important goal for this agenda. At My World 2015, individuals can rank their top priorities for the agenda. Over 7.6 million people have voted, and of the sixteen potential priorities, provision of good education is consistently ranked as the highest priority across all cohorts and has received prioritisation by over two-thirds of all voters.