Giuseppe Valditara, Minister of Education and Merit, was in New York for the top-level week of the United Nations General Assembly, where on 23 September he took part in Multiply Possibility, the high-level event on financing global education, co-chaired by Italy and Nigeria along with the Global Partnership for Education. In the same mission, the Minister accompanied the United Nations a group of students from the Student Counsels, present for the first time in the Palazzo di Vetro, and closed the week of Futura New York School, meeting students and teachers of La Scuola d’Italia Guglielmo Marconi before the final event at the Lincoln Center. We interviewed him during the school visit.
This year’s UN Assembly theme is “Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all”. What brought it here today to the United Nations, and what role can international cooperation play in the school sector in a context marked by geopolitical crises?
We believe that collaboration, cooperation with countries that most suffer the lack of teachers and schools, is strategic and fundamental. I came here to New York, the United Nations, to relaunch the project of an extraordinary investment for Africa in particular. We invited, on the occasion of the G7 held in Trieste, also the Organization of African States: it was the first time it was involved, and it was a great signal. We have known that there are 17 million teachers for Africa, and I believe that all of us must make a great effort to promote the growth of this great continent and give to so many young opportunities of the future.
The young Italian students who participated in the School Futura project worked in two workshops: in the Orizzonti workshop they explored words and values related to Italian culture; in the Dialoghi workshop they compared great figures of literature, science and Italian art. What role does school diplomacy play in strengthening bilateral relations between Italy and the United States?
A fundamental role, also because we rediscovered, in the new school programs, the centrality of the West, the pride of our roots, the pride of characters like Dante, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Galilei, and I add, as Christopher Columbus: without Christopher Columbus the United States would never be born. He was the first American, and was an Italian. We must be proud and aware of this. I am very pleased that the children have done research and insights, have been curious about history, life, the contribution of these figures to the development of global civilization. They touched themes such as freedom and democracy, values born with the West, which the West has transformed into universal principles donated to the whole world.
What is the importance of the presence abroad of Italian students? What are the growth points you see in international projects like this?
A fundamental importance. I am visiting many Italian schools abroad: I was in Buenos Aires, I was in Addis Ababa, I want to go to Madrid, today I am here in New York. Why this? Because Italian schools abroad are moments of spreading the values of our country, the achievements of our country, the role that our country, in the cultural field, in the economic field, in the civil field, has played and continues to play.
If she had to choose a word to tell Italy to the world, what would it be?
It is the country of beauty, solidarity and freedom.
Today he is accompanying the Italian students of the Student Counsels for the first time in the United Nations. What do you hope they bring home from this experience?
May in them be aware of strong ties with so many other young people of many other nations. Because behind every nation, behind every representative of the various states who sits on the UN Assembly’s ballots, there are so many young people, so many hopes, so many dreams, and so know how to share with so many other young dreams, hopes, projects, I think it is the most beautiful thing. I hope that all other countries will also follow the Italian example and bring in international assemblies, starting from the next G20, but also in UNESCO’s assemblies and other international events, representatives of student consults from their respective countries, as we have done. We are also at the forefront of this.
Climate and artificial intelligence are two hot topics discussed at the General Assembly, what kind of investments and updates in school systems would it feel necessary to prepare students for these global challenges?
We talked about themes such as the environment, artificial intelligence, education to respect also of all that surrounds us and nature. We talked about it in the new guidelines on civic education. For us artificial intelligence is a great challenge that must always be governed by man. We must accustom young people to the risks and potential of artificial intelligence, we must train teachers so that they can grasp their potential in teaching and can also use it, as we have foreseen in new programs, especially for STEM subjects, for all scientific subjects, from mathematics to physics. It is a great challenge that all of us must see together. We will launch in October a great meeting in Lombardy, on Lake Como, which will bring together experts, schools, students, teachers, politicians from all over the world, precisely to reason for artificial intelligence and school.
L’articolo Valditara in New York: “Italy is the country of beauty, solidarity and freedom” comes from IlNewyorkese.
