Panellists during the event organised by NCECS to mark International Youth Day.
Doha, Qatar: The Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture, and Science (NCECS) in cooperation with the Unesco Office in Doha, organised a unique celebration of International Youth Day 2023 under the title “Green Skills for Youth: Towards a Sustainable World,” on August 31, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Legtaifiya.
The ceremony was attended by several leaders of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the Director of the Unesco Office in Doha, Salahuddin Zaki Khaled, a representative of the United Nations Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization, and several students and those interested in environmental issues.
The celebration began with a speech by Acting Secretary General of NCECS Ali Abdul Razzaq Marafie. In his remarks, he said that one of the most important goals is to build a distinguished educational system that responds to the needs of the future market and equips learners with the skills, values, and knowledge necessary to achieve the desired social, economic, and environmental transformations.
Director of the Unesco Office in Doha, the Gulf States, and Yemen Salahuddin Zaki Khaled stressed that the United Nations reports indicate that 8.4 million jobs can be created for young people by 2023 by adopting green skills and technologies.
In 2022, Unesco surveyed more than 17,000 young people from 160 countries, revealing that 70% lack proper education on climate change in schools, underscoring the need for climate action in school curricula.
In response, Unesco launched the Green Education Partnership in September 2022, accelerating climate change education worldwide through collaboration and focused action in different fields to address the climate crisis and empower future generations to create a sustainable world.
Director of the Green Development and Environmental Sustainability Department at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Sheikh Dr. Saud bin Khalifa Al Thani explained during his participation in this celebration that International Youth Day is an international celebration of the vitality and creativity of young people. It highlights their capabilities and abilities to lead change and transform societies.
The National Vision 2030 is the roadmap towards a diversified knowledge-based economy that ensures a high quality of life for current and future generations.
The ceremony witnessed two discussion sessions on the importance of green skills from an institutional and youth perspective. The experts and researchers agreed on the need to spread the culture of the green future to protect the planet from the surroundings and increase environmental risks by holding workshops, seminars, and student camps and allocating programmes paces to spread this culture, which may be new to societies.
The attendees praised Qatar’s achievements in spreading the culture of sustainability by supporting scientific programmes and research and implementing them on the ground.
It has become clear that there is interest in sustainable agriculture, building gardens, spreading green spaces, and providing environmental consultations for new projects for a better ecological future for society and an ideal healthy life.
