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Before jumping into the future, let’s take a brief look at the past—to a classroom when our grandparents were in school. Desks in rows, pen and paper, and a teacher at a blackboard. Today, many classrooms remain largely unchanged. But as for the future, my vision is to have flexible classrooms that cater to all learners, that use advanced technologies like holograms and augmented reality, and that withstand climate change.

Whatever the ‘classroom’ of the future looks like, UNESCO, as the United Nations agency specialized in education, believes that human connection is key, and physical schools remain vital. COVID-19 reminded us how essential in-person interaction is for socialization and building empathy.

Globally, one in three students reports being bullied in the last month, according to UNESCO data. The problem is even worse for marginalized groups, like LGBTQ+ youth, who face higher rates of harassment.

Schools need to make health, safety, and well-being a priority, and for this, they need more resources—both human and financial. This means training teachers to identify and address mental health issues, investing in counselors, and creating safe spaces for all students. The broader community must also play a role, as the health and safety of children extend beyond school walls.

Education is a fundamental human right, enshrined in international instruments like the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1960 UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education. These instruments emphasize the State's obligation to provide accessible and equitable education for all without discrimination.

While the introduction of multiple education laws may raise questions about stability, frequent reforms can also reflect a country’s commitment to adapting its legal framework to meet evolving educational and societal needs. 

Legislation must adapt to diverse regional, cultural, and economic needs to remain effective and equitable. The right to education is therefore constantly evolving, and its international legal framework requires re-examining to ensure more equity and relevance in a changing social and educational landscape.

Education is—and must remain—a public endeavor and a common good. It’s fundamentally an obligation of the state. Education is built on a social contract grounded in principles of human rights, social justice, human dignity, and cultural diversity.

Today, technology companies have become embedded across education systems, from online learning platforms to management. At many schools and universities, digital tools are now as ubiquitous as textbooks. Big tech companies play an important role, but integrating technology in education should be on our terms – ‘our’ being a collective project representing the interests of all members of society. Public systems must ensure education is ethical, fair, and focused on the well-being of learners—not profits.

In 2021, UNESCO Member States adopted the first-ever global standard on AI ethics – the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence – to protect human rights and dignity based on fundamental principles such as transparency, fairness, and non-discrimination. 

The Recommendation sets out eleven key areas for policy actions – including education and research. 

From an education perspective, what’s important is that technology should be at the service of learners, not the other way around.

This is a hot topic, as shown by UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report. It is estimated that nearly one in four countries have banned phones in schools, and this movement is expanding, with a growing number of policymakers calling for “phone-free schools”.

Phones can be a distraction, as we all know. Even their presence can shift attention away from learning, and once students are distracted, it can take up to 20 minutes for them to get back on task. And overreliance on screens may take students away from ever writing by hand—which activates different parts of the brain, enhancing memory and comprehension.

Yet, with the right content and guidance, phones can also be used for learning. With mobile devices, people have access to the encyclopedia of the world’s knowledge from their pocket. This is a real boon for expanding access to information, especially for people in rural areas who may not have access to physical books.

Outright bans may not be appropriate in every context: schools have experimented with different models, from forbidding phones at school at all to allowing phones in classrooms during certain exercises or between classes. What’s clear is that the focus must remain on the learner: how technology is used should support—not hinder—education.

Sooner or later, students will be exposed to these devices, and education should teach them how to use them safely and responsibly.

We are all part of ‘Generation AI’, and this technology presents many implications for the future of education. On the one hand, it offers novel opportunities to enrich learning experiences, provide nuanced feedback and support to students, and ease administrative burdens on teachers. On the other hand, it raises concerns around privacy and safety, and fraught questions about the nature of knowledge, the future role of educators, and academic integrity.

Some have argued that the use of generative AI can fill the teacher shortage—however, we know what is really needed for quality education: well-run, well-equipped schools with well-trained, adequately paid, teachers motivated in their mission.

From UNESCO’s perspective, what matters is taking a human-centered approach to integrating AI in education—equipping learners with the skills and competencies to thrive in a digital age, and through education, developing AI technologies that protect and expand our diverse knowledge systems, rather than narrowing them.