Speaking at the final day of the Transforming Education Summit, Guterres pointed out that education is fast becoming “a great divider”, noting that some 70% of 10-year-olds in poor countries are unable to read and are “barely learning”.

“Even in developed countries, education systems often entrench inequality rather than reduce it, reproducing it across generations,” the Guterres’s spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.

In this regard, Guterres highlighted areas in which world leaders must act including to guarantee teachers to have decent working conditions and training, secure schools, improve connectivity in institutions and increase funding for education.

Similarly, Guterres called on Afghan authorities to immediately lift all restrictions on girls’ access to Junior High School.

“Girls’ education is one of the most important steps to getting peace, security and sustainable development everywhere,” Guterres asserted.

According to a UN Children’s Fund report, prolonged school closures and lack of access to quality learning during the Covid-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated a pre-existing crisis, leaving millions of schoolchildren without basic numeracy and literacy skills.

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