(Picture posted by Malala Yousafzai, BBC)

As Malala Yousafzai once said: "One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world". Unfortunately, according to the United Nations, to date, 258 million children still do not attend school and 617 million children and adolescents cannot read and do basic math. 

The importance of proclaiming an International Education Day is vital to increase awareness about the role that education plays in our lives and work towards SDG Number 4, which aims to 'ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all' by the year 2030.

These days, the world has two young leaders and activists standing up for major global issues: the climate crisis and women's education. Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg, represent our generation of young leaders who believe education is key on the path to change the world for the better and lead to a greener future. 

How is SUNx Malta tackling this issue?

SUNx Malta (Strong Universal Network - for Climate and sustainability activist the late Maurice Strong) provides education through different programmes like the Climate Friendly Travel Diploma, in which 30 scholarships are offered to students in developing countries and small islands developing states. 

The program aims to prepare students to be a country leader in building the change  Travel & Tourism needs, in playing its part in the world's response to the eXistential Climate Crisis. It is part of a long term strategy to create 100,000 Strong Climate Champions across all UN States by 2030.to help Tourism companies and communities make the transformation jump. 

In addition to this, SUNx Malta is working on its first-ever Climate Friendly Travel youth summit in April 2021. The 'Strong Earth Youth Summit' (SEYS) will include lectures, workshops and other educational activities to highlight the need for a clean and green post-Covid future for the tourism sector, under the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and 2050 Paris Agreement.

It is also important to highlight SUNx Malta’s SDG and Paris Action Framework, in which they have  created a UN linked Registry to help companies and communities develop their plans and transparently show them to regulators and consumers. This Registry will empower education by giving those companies the opportunity to keep building their plans towards SDG number 4 and take action on it. This action plan will make SUNx Malta to be a step closer of the 100,000 Strong Climate Champions across all UN States by 2030.

This year, International Education Day 2021's theme is "Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation". Now more than ever, non-profit organizations like SUNx Malta must keep working towards powering education for a better future for coming generations. As such, we plan to provide an online summer learning experience for developing countries to increase awareness about climate-friendly travel in 2022.

To learn more & register for SEYS, visit https://www.thesunprogram.com/summit

Sources: UNESCO, United Nations, BBC, SUNx Malta