Speeches

Mr President, we’ve seen it before with the global pandemic, and all over again now: education is key during crisis and wars. This report gives emphasis to the importance of education for children’s well-being as a fundamental right, enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. And the report comes at a very timely moment, with the horrible war raging in Ukraine, weighing a huge toll on children, forcibly displacing them with 4.5 million who left the country and 7 million internally displaced within Ukraine itself. For the millions of Ukrainian children affected by the war, the distance learning programmes enacted during the global pandemic have proven life-saving and fundamental in ensuring the continuation of these essential formative years of children and young people’s development. As it has been for Ukraine, so it is for all children in Europe and around the world; education cannot wait and is never negotiable. All over the world, children and young people are experiencing new heights of mental health issues. As legislators, we are called upon to make choices and provide answers because we risk a lost generation if we do not intervene with corrective measures aimed at mitigating these very consequences. We cannot allow ourselves to fail the children in our societies all over the world. We need to do our best to ensure a bright future for the younger generation and make sure that they thrive and reach their full potential, wherever they are, holding no one back but also leaving no one behind. Education is one of the most important challenges of the century, and it needs to be treated as a matter of priority, especially in these times of crisis. Schools and education provide a safe space for many children around the world, and that’s even truer for girls, giving them a healthy meal a day, shielding them from domestic violence or, even worse, from being sexually abused or exploited or from being recruited as soldiers. So let’s also think about the huge economic losses associated with a lack of proper education – both formal and vocational. Children who do not go to schools miss out on important skills that will be necessary for them to enter the labour market when they reach adulthood. With my report, we make an important pledge and give specific recommendations to the EU Member States, the Commission and the External Action Service to prioritise education in the recovery plans and in their relationships with third countries. Education serves as a catalyst for innovation and human development, including easing young people’s access to the labour market. So this report draws a clear connection between education and entry in the labour market later in life. I will always remember my own teachers who taught me to write with a pen in my mouth, and how she forced me to always try again when I didn’t do get good enough, even if it took me 15 minutes longer than all my classmates. But that helped shape me into who I am today. We know that teachers help shape the next generation, so let’s make sure that all children have a teacher to remember. I want to thank all my shadows and I hope for the full support of all my colleagues on this important topic so close to our hearts.