On June 18, Deputy Minister, President of the National Commission of Ukraine for UNESCO Mariana Betsa attended the conference “Skills for Ukraine’s Future: Learning Cities Leading the Recovery”, organized by the UNESCO Antenna office in Kyiv.

In her speech, Mariana Betsa drew attention to the damage and destruction caused by the full-scale Russian aggression to the education sector in Ukraine.

“The aggressor state continues to demonstrate a brutal violation of the basic UNESCO principles. It is targeting education, and therefore the future”, the President of the National Commission emphasized, providing information about the large-scale damage caused to Ukrainian educational institutions by the Russian Federation.

Mariana Betsa once again called on partners to increase sanctions pressure on the aggressor state, which continues to violate the foundations of international law, and to hold war criminals to account.

The participants discussed the role of adult and youth education in rebuilding Ukraine, presented the strategies of four Learning cities (Lviv, Sumy, Ternopil, Poltava), and held interactive round tables on the topics “Youth as Catalysts for Learning and Recovery” and “Skills for the Future: What Adults and Youth Need to Learn for Ukraine’s Recovery”.

For reference: Learning city is a status that UNESCO grants to cities that promote lifelong learning for all. Learning city effectively mobilizes resources in every sector to promote inclusive learning from basic to higher education; revitalizes learning in families and communities; facilitates learning for and in the workplace; extends the use of modern learning technologies; enhances quality and excellence in learning; and fosters a culture of learning throughout life. Within the framework of UNESCO, they are united in the UNESCO Global Network of Learning cities.

In Ukraine, 9 cities have the status of a UNESCO Learning city: Kyiv, Sumy, Poltava, Netishyn, Lviv, Ternopil, Novoyavorivsk, Nikopol and Melitopol.