On 20 August, Ms Nisha Director of Office and UNESCO Representative to the Pacific States was our keynote speaker via video link up from Samoa speaking with assembled Canberra based diplomats in our office in Canberra.
A lack of funds means that the new school term for over half a million Palestinian students could be cut short after just one month, says UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refuge
The agency’s 711 schools, providing free basic education for Palestinian refugee children in the West Bank – including East Jerusalem – Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria – will open as planned in September. More
Young People and their Future is the focus of Six Degrees Cafe @ Black Mountain School
Canberra has a great cafe that is preparing students with disabilities for life after school it is called Black Mountain School’s ‘Six Degrees’ cafe. We were lucky enough to buy a coffee. Thanks to everyone at the Cafe, teachers and students alike, including Hayden for allowing us to film and photograph you all working so hard.
Posted by UNIC Canberra on Saturday, April 28, 2018
Canberra has a great cafe that is preparing students with disabilities for life after school it is called Black Mountain School’s ‘Six Degrees’ cafe. We worked with the students and the school
to tell the story of a programme that believes in equal opportunity for all.
To learn about the UN’s Support for People With Disabilities please to to the website of the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
This story is also part of our video series on “Locals Implementing the SDGS”
Leading up to International Mother Earth Day on the 22 April we joined the Bush and Waterbug Detectives School Holiday Programme at Jerrabomberra Wetlands Canberra.
Education is vital for a healthy planet.
International Mother Earth Day is celebrated to remind each of us that the Earth and its ecosystems provide us with life and sustenance.
How are people’s lives linked to the Sustainable Development Goals? This film tells the stories of three families in the Coastal, Highlands and Central regions of Papua New Guinea. It documents the challenges they face in their daily lives, how they are over coming these and their aspirations for the future.
When states and religious denominations developed formal education for indigenous peoples, indigenous cultures, languages and practices were often ignored or discouraged. The education sector is a particular arena that not only mirrors and condenses the historical abuses, discrimination and marginalization suffered by indigenous peoples, but also reflects their continued struggle for equality and respect for their rights as peoples and as individuals.
Efforts should be made to ensure that indigenous peoples have access to education that is culturally and linguistically appropriate and that does not aim at or result in unwanted assimilation.
Learn more about the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples: http://bit.ly/idwip16
MESSAGE ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
9 August 2016
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by world leaders last year, is predicated on the principle of leaving no one behind in the journey to a world of peace and dignity, opportunity and prosperity. Among those most vulnerable to being left behind are indigenous peoples.
Indigenous peoples face a wide range of challenges including systematic discrimination, denial of their land and territorial rights and inadequate access to essential services. Indigenous peoples regularly face stigmatization of their cultural identity and lack of respect and recognition for their heritage and values, including in textbooks and other educational materials. Their marginalization is often compounded by language barriers. Instruction is mainly in the national language, with little or no instruction in, or recognition of, indigenous languages.
This has grave consequences. Around the globe, indigenous youth are graduating from high school at rates well below the national average. In some countries, less than 40 per cent of indigenous children attend school full-time. In many others, few indigenous children complete a full high school education. This is unacceptable. We will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals if we fail to address the educational needs of indigenous peoples.
In recent decades, the world has progressed considerably in advocating for the rights of indigenous peoples. The United Nations now has three specific mechanisms to advance their cause: the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues; the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We also have the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Adopted by the General Assembly on 13 September 2007, the Declaration is the definitive benchmark for the recognition, promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples.
In September 2014, the first World Conference on Indigenous Peoples adopted an action oriented outcome document to achieve the ends of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. As a direct result we now have a UN System Wide Action Plan to promote awareness and action to support the implementation of the UN Declaration, particularly at the country level.
On this International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, I call on Governments everywhere to draw on the guidance of this international framework to improve access to education for indigenous people and to reflect their experiences and culture in places of learning. Let us commit to ensuring indigenous peoples are not left behind as we pursue the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Familiarizing with a tool to communicate educational data was the focus of a one-day workshop jointly organized by the UNESCO Apia Office and UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS). The workshop held at the UNESCO compound on the 26th of July focused on Data Visualization and Analysis. The goal of the workshop was to build up the capacity of individuals working in the field of education statistics and also to foster collaboration between various sectors and stakeholders. Continue reading
Education reforms and the education of vulnerable children are among the issues to be assessed in the Republic of Fiji by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Kishore Singh, during his visit to the country from 7 to 15 December 2015. Continue reading