At UNESCO headquarters, where he attended yesterday’s presentation of the 2026 GEM Report alongside numerous ministers from around the world, the Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, expressed his solidarity and wished a speedy recovery to the teacher who was stabbed yesterday morning by one of her students in the province of Bergamo. He stressed the seriousness of the incident, stating that those who work for the future of young people should never be exposed to danger.
The minister also highlighted the risks associated with the use of social media.
The GEM Report (Global Education Monitoring) is a leading independent publication that each year provides UNESCO with the basis for its comparative analyses of education systems worldwide.
Valditara was invited to speak following his recent appointment as coordinator for 2026–27 of the Western European and Others Group at UNESCO, within the high-level steering committee responsible for guiding progress toward the Sustainable Development Goal of the 2030 Agenda focused on ensuring quality education for all.
In light of this global leadership role entrusted to Italy, the minister focused his remarks on key priorities in Italian education policy. Chief among them are measures to tackle school dropout and educational exclusion.
“Italy has placed the fight against educational exclusion at the heart of its national agenda, as demonstrated by the adoption of Agenda South and Agenda North, in full alignment with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4. We regard education not only as a fundamental right, but also as the foundation of social cohesion, economic growth, and active citizenship,”
Minister Valditara stated.
Also central to Italy’s proposal, presented to the UNESCO audience, is the development of strong vocational education and training pathways capable of effectively linking schools with the labor market, as well as the need to ensure the involvement of student representatives, including in international contexts.
