International Day of Education 2021

In 2018, The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 January, as International Day of Education. This year marked the third International Day of Education and Monday January 25 was the day marked for Celebration. The Theme: ‘Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation’ touched on collaboration and solidarity to place education and Lifelong learning as the focus.

As teachers we realize all too well, that at the center of learning, lies reading.

Most of us, reading this, in this very moment, take reading for granted. All children should be able to read and understand a simple text by age 10.

The World Bank, in joint effort with UNESCO evaluated the reading levels of grade 4 students across the world, via international and national assessments. It was found that on average 53% of Fourth Graders were unable to read and comprehend a grade 4 text. In poor countries alone, that share increases to an astonishing 89%.

Grade 5 A watched a short video where Mr. Jaime Saavedra, the Education Global Director of the World Bank, explained what Learning Poverty is. Our learners could make instant connections with our previous Unit of Inquiry: How We Organize Ourselves. One of the lines of Inquiry was into   Human Rights and Social justice. We read a book about Malala Yousafzi, who advocated for the right to education, for girls in Pakistan and nearly paid with her life. Her powerful story impacted our learners immensely.

Our learners then listened to a young student, April Qu, who spoke about the “Power of Reading” in a TED-talk in Suzhou. Learners asked questions like “Don’t they have books? Aren’t there any libraries? And why doesn’t the school teach them to read?  Grade 5 A -learners created posters to share their compassion and make a plea for the rights of children to be able to read.

Mrs. Elizabeth Steenberg

Grade 5A Homeroom Teacher