Education of women, girls critical for sustainable development: symposium

BEIJING -- Promoting the education of girls and women is critical for achieving the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, according to experts at a global symposium held in Beijing on Wednesday.

The symposium, themed "SHE TRANSFORMS: Girls' and Women's Education and Sustainable Development," aims to establish a platform for dialogue to identify key issues and lessons learned in the course of promoting the education of females in society.

Experts from China's provincial education departments and international and social organizations were invited to share their experiences in responding to this major educational topic.

At the symposium, China's Vice Minister of Education Tian Xuejun called for digital transformation to guarantee equal access to educational resources and the creation of an international environment for sustainable development empowered by international cooperation and cross-sector partnership.

Stefania Giannini, assistant director-general for education at UNESCO, said that people should make joint efforts to protect girls' and women's right to education and to complete the transformation that establishes education as the key public good for social development.

"This is how we can transform, through building broad alliances to put girls' and women's education at the heart of all human progress," she noted.