UNESCO promotes the linkages between education and culture in the SICA Region
On the occasion of the XIV Ordinary Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Education and Culture of the Educational and Cultural Coordination of the Central American Integration System (CECC/SICA), UNESCO stressed the importance of promoting a functional articulation between the education and culture sectors to promote education for sustainable development and global citizenship. UNESCO urged the Member States of this organization to integrate an intersectoral perspective linking culture and education into their educational models.
The relationship between education and culture is established in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. SDG 4, target 7, establishes the importance of promoting, through education, sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, valuing cultural diversity and the contribution of culture to sustainable development.
Global citizenship education is an approach that seeks to enhance the transformative power of formal and non-formal education, instilling knowledge, skills, values and abilities to contribute to building an inclusive, just, peaceful and sustainable world. Culture plays an important role in achieving this goal, so educational models should foster appreciation of cultural diversity, promote knowledge of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and strengthen arts education as a means to stimulate multiple intelligences and foster creative freedom.
In 2020, CECC/SICA Member States adopted the Strategy to articulate the functional relationship between culture and education in the social context of the SICA Region, which incorporates UNESCO technical guidelines and, through an intersectoral approach, seeks to enhance the contributions of education and culture to sustainable development and regional integration. UNESCO has urged CECC/SICA to implement this Strategy.
UNESCO maintains that the social and economic recovery processes following the COVID-19 pandemic – which still continues to affect the countries of the region – represent an opportunity to incorporate into educational models a new approach aimed at promoting social inclusion, resilience and sustainability.