At the UN Transforming Education Summit

“Transforming Education, Building our Future.” That was the primary theme at the recent UN Transforming Education Summit 2022, held in September, at the United Nations General Assembly, New York. The Summit was convened in response to the existential global crisis in education — one of equity and inclusion, quality and relevance.

COL President and CEO, Professor Asha Kanwar, in attendance at the Summit, reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to prioritise education said, “The Commonwealth of Learning supports the UN’s call to action to address the learning crisis that is impacting millions of students around the world. COL will complement global efforts by harnessing the potential of distance learning and technologies to provide equitable quality education at lower costs and with a lower carbon footprint.” COL’s main objective was to draw the attention of world leaders to the education crisis and stress the need for urgent action, which included an appeal for allocating additional funds. Professor Kanwar also expressed that while the global community is stressing the need for more resources, COL’s role is to demonstrate how alternative approaches, such as ODL, can be a viable means for providing enhanced access to quality education at lower costs.