Incheon is the city in Korea which hosted the World Education Forum in 2015. It was concluded with the approval of the Incheon Declaration for Education 2030, a document that is a historic commitment among nations to transform lives through a new vision for education. The document is supported by the commitment of countries and the global educational community with the Education 2030 Agenda, which proposes bold and urgent action to transform lives through a new vision for education. The Incheon Declaration is also the seed of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as it is being managed by UNESCO, as a specialist organisation in Education which continues in the role that it was given to direct and coordinate the Education 2030 Agenda.
UNESCO, together with UNICEF, the World Bank, UNFPA, UNDP, UN women, and UNHCR, organised the World Education forum in 2015 in which more than 1600 people from 160 countries, including 120 ministers, heads and members of delegations, heads of agencies and officials of multilateral and bilateral organisations, as well as representatives of civil society, the teaching profession, youth and the private sector.
The Education 2030 Agenda establishes that the action of countries will drive the change, with financing from multiple stakeholders and the effective support of initiatives such as today’s ProFuturo.
Subsequently, at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, Member States endorsed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in which they pledged to “provide a quality, inclusive education at all levels, from pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, as well as technical and vocational training,” and emphasised that everyone “should have access to lifelong learning opportunities”.
The 2030 Agenda is comprised of a set of 17 bold Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Agenda, which recognises the important role played by education, contains one goal that is specifically devoted to this subject (SDG 4), which is included in the Education 2030 initiative.
The framework for action in Education 2030 emphasises how to put into practice the commitments made in Incheon, on a regional, national, and global level, and provides guidance on how to apply Education 2030. It is currently preparing a high-level meeting in which the Education 2030 Framework for Action will be approved.
