Symposium promotes the role of culture in rural sustainability

A seminar aimed at enhancing the understanding of the role of culture in promoting rural sustainability and share experiences in preserving and passing down local culture was held in Beijing recently.

The 2024 "Towards Ecological Civilization: International Symposium on Education for Sustainable Rural Development" was held on Monday and Tuesday at Beijing Normal University.

Yang Guiping, co-founder of the China Zigen Rural Education and Development Association, said "cultural diversity is as vital for human survival as biodiversity is for nature".

While culture is all around us, she noted that local villagers often view culture narrowly as achieving success through getting into a good university or studying abroad. This limited understanding inadvertently leads to the erosion of rural culture, she added.

Mayyada Abu Jaber, international jury of UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education, pointed out that the urban-rural divide, gender disparity and outdated education are the three major obstacles hindering rural sustainable development.

Qiu Jiansheng, director of the Research Center of Rural Construction and Community Building at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, emphasized the necessity to restore both economic and cultural confidence in rural areas. He stressed that localized strategies should be employed to establish targeted mutual aid systems of rural education.

Jordan Naidoo, former director of the UNESCO Kabul Office and the Division of Education 2030 Support and Coordination at the UNESCO headquarters, called for lifelong, life-wide and life-deep learning, and highlighted the role of cross-sectoral collaboration and youth action in rural sustainable development.

Luo Yixian, president of the association, said Zigen has invested over 100 million yuan ($13.8 million) in rural development initiatives. To date, it has helped more than 8,000 girls complete compulsory education and has implemented girls' sex education and women's empowerment training in rural areas.

During the seminar, Qi Xinjian, a specialist at the UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education, launched a global research project on youth and social development. The three-year research program will focus on different themes each year, aiming to pool efforts to support social development and provide broader perspectives and deeper insights for young activists in universities worldwide, Qi said.

On Sunday, the UNESCO INRULED celebrated its 30th anniversary, unveiling a series of achievements and its eight key publications for 2024.

During the event, 36 experts and scholars from China and abroad were appointed as strategic advisors, academic advisors and consulting experts for INRULED.

Their future work will highlight promoting rural sustainable development through initiatives such as improving rural education with high-quality teachers and leveraging mathematics and technology for rural education and development.

Established by the Chinese government and UNESCO under Beijing Normal University, the center carries the mission of promoting socioeconomic sustainable development in rural areas worldwide, particularly in developing countries, through education, said BNU president Yu Jihong.

The center has built platforms for policy dialogue, organized a series of seminars and participated in international discussions to explore rural education issues over the past three decades, Yu said.

Fang Biling contributed to this story.