TRANSFORMING EDUCATION SUMMIT 2022 EU investment in the future of Eswatini
I Nmy exchanges with youth in Eswatini, I always remind them that the most precious asset they have is their education. It is the only possession that no one can take away. Education is the smartest, most powerful investment in our future, a cornerstone to economic and social development and its transformational power is the strongest social equaliser.
With quality education and training, young people can take up attractive 21st century jobs, start successful businesses and better navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain world.
Yet education is in crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a severe disruption in schooling and many children, including in Eswatini, lost precious months and even years. Almost all countries saw reversals in human development in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, most low, medium and high Human Development Index (HDI) countries saw continued declines in the second year.
In addition, a critical number of children around the world are unable to benefit from a quality, meaningful and modern education. This is largely due to a significant funding gap in global education investments. According to UN estimates, more than USD 200 billion in additional funding would be needed annually to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, which is inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities.
That is why one of the key highlights of this year’s United Nations General Assembly will be the Transforming Education Summit taking place in New York on September 16 – 19, 2022.
The aim of the summit is to elevate
AND today’s quote is, “don’t let your dreams die”. Just picking up your minds; dreams die in many ways such that you no longer believe in something called ‘dreams’ ever again in your life. I for one will never lift up a finger in destroying someone’s dream because I know how much that pain feels, how it can destroy you to the core.
Unfortunately, after that you’ll never be the same.
Have you ever thought why most people turn to drugs or just like everyone else you probably think that they don’t value life? Well, many will attest that someone crushed the only thing that made me alive, the thing that made me to wake up in every morning with so much energy.
Sadly, I blame parents because they can think that they know better for their children than the children themselves which is partly true. Children make so many mistakes that in the end they blame the parents. education to the top of the global political agenda and to mobilise action, ambition, solidarity and solutions to recover from COVID-19 pandemic-related losses and sow the seeds to transform education in a rapidly changing world.
The EU is currently increasing its investment in education in partner countries, including Eswatini, in a significant way. In fact, the EU has pledged to substantially increase education funding from seven per cent to at least 10 per cent for its cooperation with Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The EU thus dedicates to global education more than 10 per cent of its international partnerships budget, representing over EUR 6 billion.
The EU also dedicates 10 per cent of its humanitarian aid budget to education in emergencies.
Why do we do this? Investing in education is an essential strategy in pursuit of peace, prosperity and the wellbeing of people and the planet – in achieving all the SDGs. The whole of the EU is committed to delivering on better education for the world. As ‘Team Europe’, the EU and its 27 member States are the single largest global investor in education,
Some after collapsing, ‘this is your entire fault, you never warned me or taught me about such things now I will have to bear this all my life’.
These are some sentiments teenage share with their parents.
OBSERVANT
One advice I can share to the parents is that they should show their children the way but when it comes to their dreams they shouldn’t interfere. I’ve watched so many movies where the parents choose the career for their children mostly wants their children to study medicine.
If as a parent you are observant, representing 55 per cent of Official Development Assistance education grants globally.
Education is also a key pillar of our EUR 300 billion Global Gateway investment strategy. This Team Europe initiative places education at the heart of our collective Africa-Europe efforts towards an integrated and prosperous Africa. Our joint actions focus on strengthening education systems at all levels, in particular on providing quality education, ensuring equality and equity in access to it, equipping young people with the skills they will need in the future world of work as well as fostering skills for life and employment.
But this is not enough to fill the global investment gap in education. This is why ahead of the Transforming Education Summit, the EU is calling on the international community to invest more in education. The international community must act to ensure that all girls and boys can access, enjoy and benefit from a meaningful, safe, modern, inclusive and good quality education.
In the run up to the Transforming Education Summit, during the consultations carried out by government with relevant stakeholders in Eswatini, the most prominent issues were improving transition rates to secondary school, ICT skills for the current knowledge and digital economy, as well as the need to better match skills with jobs.
The EU has a long history in supporting the Eswatini’s education sector and has continued to assist the country’s efforts to achieve SDG 4.
Between 2010 and 2015, the EU, through the ‘Support to Education and Training (SET) Programme’, contributed SZL 158 million towards free primary education in Eswatini, thus helping the country to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 2 - universal primary education. you’ll see from a tender age what your child’s dream is.
Not everyone wants to become a doctor.
Personally, I find it boring and heartless. Imagine cutting a stomach and removing something out of it, scary right but that is my own opinion because I’m not into medicine. Others finds it amazing and I encourage them to strengthen the muscle. Let me share my story.
So, I remember when I discovered the love I have for writing, it was like someone has whistled a blow for the race. The SET programme supported over 163 000 children access primary education and helped the country to achieve a 97 per cent enrolment rate at primary school level. The EU has not only supported free primary education, but has also helped build new schools and additional classrooms around the country, and has supported technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programmes. We have assisted in the review of the schools’ curricula in the kingdom, to make the country’s education competence-based, inclusive and relevant to the demands of the labour market.
However, the education sector continues to face serious challenges, with a big number of primary school students not progressing to secondary education for various reasons, including the high costs of secondary education in the country.
To help deal with the disruptive impact of the COVID 19 pandemic and massive school drop-outs, the EU is funding a two-year project (January 2022 to December 2024) aiming at improving access to education through school reintegration, remedial education and drop-out risk reduction, targeting children who have lost parents or guardians as a result of COVID-19. The project, implemented in several schools around the country by UNICEF and local partners, is also reaching out to pregnant adolescents and adolescent parents, adolescent boys and adolescents with disabilities who dropped out of school for reasons beyond their control, to go back to class. In a complementary initiative, the EU will soon provide funding to UNICEF through the ‘Back to School’ project to further help mitigate the impact of the COVID -19 pandemic on children and youth with disabilities in Eswatini, by supporting their return
I started becoming restless, wondering how I can practise for better results for my writing. We all know that if you want to pursue that talent, you must contact the newspapers, magazines, blogs and I saw an interesting opportunity on this very publication that if you have an interesting story you want to share contact the number below. I knew that this post was definitely mine so I quickly contacted them and everything was successful.
I began writing letters to the editor and this one day I saw some columns written by columnist and I told myself that I want to have a column of mine and thanks to the Almighty today I have a column of my own. The power of dreams.
DREAMS
The dreams of many don’t let them sleep at night, they scare or intimidate them.
My dreams do exactly that, they don’t let me have peace. I’m sure by now as my readers you know how much I want to be a journalist and that keeps me alive every day. I believe in honest truth and I’m working on bringing the truth to the people. Writing comes with art and there’s no better adventure than that to me. Designers can share similar sentiments with me that it is amazing to create something different and adventurous. Not only designers but also artists have this common.
To tell the truth, every talent has creativeness and that you’ll only realise after you decide to go for to schools and training centres after long closures, as well as promoting an enabling environment for children and youth with disabilities to thrive and reach their full potential. The EU Support to the education sector will continue through the new EU Multi-annual Indicative Programme 2021 - 2027 which focuses on bringing EU support as close as possible to the people, particularly those in the most vulnerable situations in Eswatini, thus supporting progress towards the SDGs. Concretely, the new programme will focus on human capital development; empowering the disadvantaged youth and women via skills, income generation and employment through a series of interventions to improve access to formal and non-formal education and the quality and relevance of the TVET system in close partnership with the government, the private sector and civil society organisations. Eswatini’s has a lower middle-income country status, yet the country is facing serious and persistent inequality and development challenges. Eswatini faces high unemployment, which is estimated to have increased from 23 per cent in 2016 to 33.3 per cent in 2021, and is higher among women, the youth and the rural population.
The unemployment rate among youth aged 15-25 years is as high as 58.2 per cent and 65.9 per cent in the rural areas and 34.1 per cent in the urban areas (Eswatini Labour Force Survey, 2021). In addition, 35 per cent of young people are neither in education, nor in employment or training. Of those young people employed, 40 per cent are in vulnerable employment, and 77 per cent in informal employment. Yet, employers cannot often find the right skills and knowledge on the labour market.
To fulfill its dream to be a First World nation, Eswatini needs a First World, highly educated workforce. The EU continues to support this ambition and the rightful dreams and expectations of the youth of this country for better opportunities and a brighter future. The key to realizing those dreams is education.
what makes you happy.
Be passionate about the things that makes you to be you.
A shrink once told a cheating woman that bubble burst and how hard it can be to face reality after that and here I am today telling you that don’t let that dream bubble burst because you won’t be able to be you after that. You will feel that a part of you has been ripped away from you.
So, in order to have such regrets don’t let anyone take away your dream, not even your parents. Do you know the pain of waking up every day and attend classes of the course you don’t want?
REJECTION
It’s the hardest thing ever. Always look opportunities and let me assure you that failure and rejection is there but that shouldn’t stop you or discourage you.
I know you didn’t ask me but I won an award last year November for best young writer and this year I’m bringing the favourite columnist award home and that with your help. Voting will happen through sending an SMS from Eswatini Mobile and MTN Eswatini. The winner will go away with a trophy, certificate, money and a trip to Mozambique. Guys, imagine the trip, so please do follow their website on www. swazifest.com to check when the voting starts. And today I choose to share my number with you in case you have some questions to ask 7662 3592 Have a blessed weekend my readers.