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Education 2030 Insights from Dipu Moni, Former Minister of Education of Bangladesh
This article is part of the Key Learnings for Education 2030 series written by the SDG4 High-Level Steering Committee (HLSC)'s Inter-Agency Secretariat. In this series, we speak with the leaders of the HLSC about the strides that were made towards achieving SDG4 and draw inspiration from them on how to further advance the work for education transformation.
Upon the conclusion of her mandate as the representative of the Asia and the Pacific States and as a member of the SDG4 High-Level Steering Committee (HLSC) hosted by UNESCO, we had the opportunity to interview the former Minister of Education of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dipu Moni, who played an active role at the HLSC during her tenure from 2022 to 2023. During this interview, she highlights key topics on advancing the Education 2030 agenda. From emphasizing the importance of improving education financing to advocating for additional budgetary support for education in Least Developed Countries (LDCs), to discussing Bangladesh's commitments during the Transforming Education Summit 2022 (TES), these are some of the elements exposed in the interview.
To begin with, the former Minister highlights the catastrophic effects that the COVID-19 pandemic had globally. Not only did it — the largest disruption of education systems at a global scale in history — but it also exposed large disparities between countries and education systems in terms of access, quality, and relevance, as well as between different learner groups within countries. At the core of this education crisis is a global financing gap, which is detrimental to adequate and equitable funding of public education policies worldwide and is presently thwarting the advancement of the SDGs.
The focus should be placed on increasing education financing, especially in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) which need more financial support. In fact, . In this regard, the former Minister states: “We believe that we need extra budgetary financial support especially for LDCs and lower-income countries, and for that, we worked for multilateral financing for education, and we have already come up with some institutional mechanisms.”
In addition, Dipu Moni highlights a few recommendations for the HLSC’s new leadership, which began early this year. Specifically, she recommends a more inclusive and collaborative approach to decision-making and resource allocation, emphasizing that member states should have increased participation and accessibility in evaluating the needs of each member state. This would ensure they have a role in guaranteeing fair and equal distribution of resources among member states. In conclusion, the words of the former Minister remind us of the importance of the Education 2030 agenda and of our commitment to a shared global education goal.
