(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Highlighting that education is the core pillar for development, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, United Nations Advocate for the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Founder of Education Above All (EAA) Foundation and the Chairperson of Qatar Foundation (QF) noted Tuesday that there can be no development amidst discrimination, no stability with marginalisation, no prosperity amid exclusion.
She was delivering the keynote address at the high-level session on 'Education as the Foundation of the New Social Contract for Social justice and Development' at the Second World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD2) being held at Qatar National Convention blade-->

Her Highness noted that the world must never accept the reality that there are 272mn out-of-school children, according to 2023 Unesco figures.
She explained:“The grim figures and statistics carry with them a distressing message, one that appeals to the conscience of humanity. They call for our immediate mobilisation to transform policies and mandates into actions and achievements. Social development is not a fixed matrix, nor is it a set of hollow rhetoric, or a publicity stunt, or a façade masking veiled truths. Rather, it is the story of an individual who uplifts their community when given a fair chance, and who achieves the extraordinary when granted a genuine opportunity to blade-->

“Education is the core pillar for development; there can be no development without knowledge and no renaissance without an enlightened mind. Education is not a luxury, nor a privilege, nor a favour to be granted. It is a right, a responsibility, and a tool to liberate the mind, build human capacity, safeguard our values and generate ideas to reshape our world. To achieve a real sustainable development as we envision it, education must be recognised as equal in importance to development itself, advancing together on the same track.”
The founder of EAA Foundation said that much is said about development, but people often refrain from closely examining its true blade-->

“Its most prominent pillar is human beings themselves, who make up the heart of social development and its ultimate purpose. If we consider human beings our most valuable assets, then education remains the most enduring form of capital investment. They are the spring from which the streams of progress flow and the foundation upon which the pillars of sustainable development are erected,” Her Highness highlighted.
She said that success in achieving sustainable development is not only reserved for those with more abundant resources, but for those who possess the wisdom to invest and manage it effectively.
“This is the vision that drove us in Qatar to establish a path of development that places young people in their rightful role as shapers of the future, as learners, innovators, entrepreneurs, and citizens engaged in decision-making. This inspiring vision has led to remarkable achievements by Qatar: successfully utilising natural resources, empowering human capital, and generating meaningful job opportunities that replace traditional job duplication. With a deep-rooted belief that the Sustainable Development Goals are interconnected, Qatar has exerted every effort to instill the foundations of peace and the pillars of diplomacy as the cornerstones of its social development goals,” stressed the QF blade-->

She noted that education is the sum of all sectors saying:“There can be no economy, politics, healthcare, culture or even a sustainable ecosystem without education. And if we fail to advance education with innovative sustainable solutions that align with the accelerating technological advancements of our world, then no development project, be it economic, cultural, or social, will succeed, and we will remain trapped in the cycle of failure, regression, and powerlessness, and we will lose our footing in the landscape of development. To the extent that we invest in education, we can better shape a future for humanity.”
“This is an ongoing effort that enables the individual to demand from their nations what is unattainable elsewhere: a sense of contentment in belonging and the legitimacy to dream: To dream of a future with unlimited potential, one that encompasses the breadth of the human condition, everything from the primordial cave to the mysterious frontiers of space, from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. Let us dream of a more luminous dream-a shared all-encompassing dream: the dream of development,” Sheikha Moza.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivered another keynote address at the session, highlighting that education is the foundation of a renewed social policy, anchored in human rights, social justice, and inclusion Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser World Summit for Sustainable Development

MENAFN04112025000067011011ID1110296438