About the Symposium

The symposium aims to accelerate global action and support to prioritize ethics education as a critical aspect for societies to foster learning to live together, contributing to build forward better. It aims to bring together various partners, including educators, children and young people, religious leaders, faith-based and civil society organizations, academic researchers, multilateral agencies, and policy makers to reflect together, collaborate and advance ethics education for children worldwide.

Background

Today children and youth live in an increasingly globalized world, where the potential for learning and collaboration around common issues of concern among peoples of different cultures and faiths is enormous; yet, we also live in a world that is increasingly in the grip of fundamentalism and extremism, negative stereotypes and fear of the other, violence and distrust; a world where children grow up without appreciation of the other, and where education tends to divide, fragmentize and immerse children into compartmentalized learning spaces, according to socio-economic class, religion, learning abilities and even gender, thus reinforcing the very factors that lead to divisions and fear of the other in societies at large.

In a world with growing recognition of interconnectedness and interdependence, our actions affect not only individuals but also our global community. The challenges we face in the world today concern us all. We must learn to build positive relationships and solve these challenges collectively, with empathy, respect and understanding of differences with people of different cultures and religions, contributing to solidarity and to building more peaceful and inclusive societies. The document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together reiterates the importance of these values and calls for joint collaboration in advancing human rights and equality, respect of different cultures and beliefs, dignity and human rights as principles for building a peaceful society.

Education is a significant force for transformation; contributing to the empowerment of individuals and communities, fostering inclusion and social cohesion. It can serve as an equalizer to the society and help promote equitable development . Today education needs to be reimagined and reinvented to respond to the multiple ethical challenges of societies, but also to the globalized nature of our daily interactions and lives. Today education needs to be grounded on an ethical perspective of society, where schools and non-formal education programs understand themselves as part of a community and as key actors in fostering social cohesion and building peace; where the principles that guide education, not only content but also management, are sensitive to cultural and religious differences; where educational spaces are safe for children to strengthen their sense of belonging, inclusive identities, and allow them to become who they want to become, connect with others, and transform themselves and the world around them, thus contributing to their social, emotional and spiritual development.