Preparing young Bataeños for 2030 and beyond

CITY of BALANGA, Bataan – A firm believer on the crucial role that education plays in the attainment of the province’s vision that by the year 2020, Bataan will have the lowest poverty incidence leading to the attainment of the highest human development index in the country, Governor Albert S. Garcia, together with some local government executives in the persons of Mariveles Mayor Ace Jello Concepcion, Hermosa Mayor Antonio Joseph Inton and Provincial Information Office Head, Mr. Geoffrey Loyola to name a few, are currently attending a two-day forum in Dubai on strengthening public education.

An initiative of the Varkey Foundation, the Global Education & Skills Forum (GESF) is an essential platform for collaboration and problem solving – taking ‘how it should be’ forward into innovative, multi-stakeholder ‘how do we get there together?’

Each year the GESF brings together world leaders from the public, private and social sectors seeking solutions to achieving education, equity and employment for all as the key to solving global issues.

Some of the world renowned speakers who take center stage on this year’s forum are: Eleni Antoniadou, President, European Health Parliament; Vidya Shah, Founder & CEO, EdelGive Foundation; Fahd al Rasheed, Group CEO, King Abdullah Economic City; Iyad Rahwan, Associate Professor of Media, Arts & Sciences, MIT Media Lab; Nicolas Sarkozy, Former President of the French Republic; Prof Simon Schama, History & Art History, Columbia University
Over two days, more than 2,000 delegates at the GESF share, debate and shape new ways for education to transform our world. The Forum culminates in the awarding of the Global Teacher Prize – a recognition that every child deserves an exceptional teacher.

The Varkey Foundation believes nothing is more important to achieving this than motivated and high-quality teachers who can inspire children in our schools. The Varkey Foundation supports global teaching capacity and seeds excellence and innovation in the next generation of educators through its programmes and initiatives – including the Global Education & Skills Forum and the Global Teacher Prize. Simply, a quality education for every child requires a quality teacher for every child, and in turn a fairer, more open and tolerant society for us all.

The Forum also tackles key trends and breakthroughs to expect in the technology space that will revolutionise the way we live, learn and work. Alongside these are the participants’ immersive experiences that show how technology could transform communities.

Given the theme of the conference, which is future facing, hence the involvement of some great youth advocates as speakers. While the young constitute only 27% of human population, yet they are 100% of our futures hence it is important to prioritize and provide them with opportunities to raise the issues that they’re most passionate about.

Attendees in the world forum are serving and former heads of state and prime ministers, Ministers of Education, senior representatives from the United Nations including UNESCO; as well as other public and social policy leaders, hundreds of CEOs & business leaders from organisations such as Huawei, PwC, Barclays, Lego, Microsoft, WPP plc.; Education leaders from the OECD, global charities, renowned universities and private schools and the International Baccalaureate Organisation; thousands of teachers and school leaders, including the Top Ten Finalists of the Global Teacher Prize; media influencers from CNN, the BBC and The Economist, as well as hundreds of publications & media outlets worldwide including The Times, Washington Post, The New York Times, Forbes Magazine, TES and the Huffington Post.

The Bataan delegation had the opportunity to meet and discuss with DepEd officials led by no less than DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones and one of the top 10 finalists for the Global Teacher prize, Jesus Insilada from the Philippines.