EDUCATION MATTERS: EXPLORING EDUCATION’S ROLE IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Alexandra J. Kenyona, Carmen Rodríguez-Santosb
aUniversity Vitez, Management and Social Sciences, Bosnia and Herzegovina, alexandrajkenyon@gmail.com
bUniversity of León, Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, Spain
Abstract
Many intergovernmental forums provide structured, constructive, and cooperative platforms to enable State Leaders to work together effectively on global issues that affect us all. The global issue under investigation in this paper is education because education matters. Education is evolving into a fundamental entitlement that societies owe their members, with a growing recognition of the state’s duty to guarantee a fair, high-quality, and inclusive educational experience for every student, regardless of their background or circumstances (Totan and Dawed, 2023). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was formed in 1945 to establish international cooperation in education, science, culture, and communication.It aimed to “… strengthen humankind’s intellectual and moral solidarity” (UNESCO n.d., n.p.). To that end, they lead the debate among nations regarding alternative futures for education and learning, always grounded on principles of human rights, social justice, human dignity, and cultural diversity. This paper will demonstrate the significance of education by reflecting on three pivotal international forums that have shaped its trajectory over the past seven decades. These forums, which led to the establishment of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4), Quality Education, are a testament to the collective efforts of nations.SDG 4, one of the 17 development goals endorsed at the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on the 25th of September 2015, sets indicators and targets for individual countries and their governments to provide quality education and lifelong learning opportunities by 2030. Education, a human and legal right for all, is not just about learning; it is a gateway to individual human development, social justice, and lasting peace.However, with 250 million children still out of school and slow progress in achieving the SDG 4 goal of universal primary education, there is a pressing need for action. We will provide a deeper review of how education improves human development and demonstrate how tertiary education develops healthier, more employable, prosperous, environmentally conscious, and active individuals within their community. Advanced education is a critical dimension that improves individuals’ health, prosperity, and societal levels. In this section, we will present data and commentary using the Human Development Index (HDI) that demonstrates how countries are working toward Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 and how education contributes to the achievement of other SDGs.This paper will include data from four European Global North countries, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, as well as four countries from the Global South: Algeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Mali. We will demonstrate how the three chosen forums have contributed to improving the human development of citizens in those nations.
Keywords: Human Rights, Quality Education, Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4), Human Development Index (HDI)
JEL Classification: O1, I2, F5
To be cited as: Kenyon. A. J. and Rodríguez-Santos, C. (2024) Education matters: Exploring education’s role in human development. International Journal of Management Courses, 26(1), pp. 28-38.