Director-General of UNESCO, Prof Khaled El-Enany;Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, Ms Amina Mohammed;Distinguished Ministers and global education leaders;Permanent Delegations and Ambassadors accredited to UNESCO;Delegates.

The founding father of democratic South Africa, President Nelson Mandela, said that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

These words ring as true today as when they were first spoken.

Education builds. It unlocks human potential. It dismantles ignorance. Every classroom and every lesson empowers the individual to transform not only their own lives but also their communities, their societies and their countries.

Across the world we see examples of this transformative potential.

In the east African nation of Rwanda, sustained investment in education has helped rebuild a nation once scarred by conflict into one of Africa’s fastest-growing knowledge economies.

In China, investment in education over the past four decades has transformed a once predominantly agrarian society into the world’s second largest economy, lifting more than 800 million people out of poverty in the process.

In India, education investment has helped build a skilled workforce whose tech talent is amongst the most highly sought in the global marketplace.

From my own country, South Africa, comes a story of optimism and hope.

Last year we achieved the highest school-leaving certificate pass rate in our democratic history.

What makes this all the more extraordinary is that the majority of those passes qualifying for university entry were learners from poor communities.

These are young people who will go on to pursue their dreams at a university, technical or vocational college of their choice, where they will study for free.

This is a generation taking up opportunity that would have been denied to their parents and grandparents under apartheid.

These stories are a powerful reminder that when opportunity is extended, education becomes not merely a ladder out of poverty, but a tool with which a nation can transform itself, as President Mandela said.

It has been four years since the Transforming Education Summit called us to action, and the 2024 Global Meeting strengthened that call through the Fortaleza Declaration.

When we convened in 2022, the global education crisis had been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 140 countries committed to recover learning losses, to close equity gaps, to strengthen our teachers, and to ensure that no child would be left behind.

The pandemic may be behind us, but serious challenges remain.

Tightening fiscal conditions impact our ability to invest in education. Conflicts and climate-related shocks are disrupting education and displacing millions.

At the same time, we stand at the threshold of a technological revolution that will fundamentally reshape the skills our young people need to thrive.

TES Plus 4 must take stock of the targets and objectives that Member States set for themselves, assess the progress we have made, learn from the challenges we have encountered, and renew our commitment to delivering on the promise of transforming education.

Our credibility will be measured not by the aspirations we declare, but by the progress we achieve for learners everywhere.

Today, as we review progress toward SDG 4, we must celebrate genuine achievements while confronting uncomfortable truths.

The dashboard of country commitments launched at our 2024 stock-take shows us where nations are advancing, where progress has stalled, and where urgent action is required.

This transparency is not meant to shame us, it is meant to empower us.

Much work still lies ahead to make sure that all children have access to educational opportunities in which they build strong early learning foundations and then go on to develop the skills needed to thrive in a fast-changing world.

The teaching profession stands at the heart of any meaningful education transformation.

Across our world, teachers strive to perform their duties under extremely difficult conditions.

These include inadequate compensation, insufficient professional development, overwhelming classroom sizes, and the profound emotional toll of teaching in an era of growing uncertainty and mental health crises among young people.

We cannot transform education without transforming the conditions under which our teachers work and the respect with which we treat them.

Similarly, we cannot achieve SDG 4 without prioritising equity and inclusion with absolute clarity and purpose.

Inclusive quality education means reaching all learners, whether they are male or female, able-bodied or living with disabilities, urban or rural, rich or poor.

Without equity at the centre of education policy, reform risks reproducing the very inequalities it seeks to overcome.

We are now at the midpoint between our 2022 commitments and the 2030 deadline.

This is not a time for incremental adjustments or business as usual.

This is a time for bold, system-wide transformation that builds more resilient, adaptive, and future-ready education systems.

Resilience means building education systems that are not fragile branches bending in the wind, but sturdy forests with deep roots and the capacity to regenerate.

The work ahead requires coordinated action across the entire global education community.

It demands sustained political commitment at the highest levels.

It requires adequate, innovative, and sustainable financing.

It depends on the voices and agency of young people themselves who are most affected by education transformation and who must be partners in shaping it.

During South Africa’s Presidency of the G20 last year, we sought to align the outcomes of our Presidency with the SDG 4 global agenda by championing foundation quality learning, strengthening the education profession and promoting mutual recognition of qualifications and skills across borders.

We encourage Member States of TES Plus 4 to maintain strong alignment between the education priorities advanced through the G20 and the work of this important Summit.

As we move forward from TES Plus 4 to the critical milestones of 2027 and beyond, we must carry with us a clear sense of shared purpose.

We must move from commitment to implementation, from promises to results, from statements to accountability.

To the young people in this room, I say this: your education is not simply about gaining qualifications.

It is about equipping yourselves to solve the problems of your generation.

Your education must prepare you not just to inherit the world we leave you, but to transform it.

To my fellow leaders, I say: education is the most powerful investment we can make in the future of our respective nations.

Every dollar spent on quality education returns many times over in economic growth, social stability and human dignity.

The time for transformation is now.

The future belongs to those we educate.