According to UNESCO, the symposium will mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) that recognizes education as a key fundamental right and establishes an entitlement to free compulsory education, ensuring inclusive and equitable access for all children.

"Education transforms lives and is at the heart of UNESCO's mission to build peace, eradicate poverty and drive sustainable development," stated the organization at its website.

This year's theme, "The right to education means the right to a qualified teacher," has been chosen to remind the global community that the right to education cannot be achieved without the right to trained and qualified teachers, it informs.

UNESCO stated that even today, a continuing challenge worldwide was the shortage of teachers and an estimated 264 million children and youth still out of school globally.

"To reach the 2030 Education Goals of universal primary and secondary education, the world needs to recruit almost 69 million new teachers. This 'teacher gap' is more pronounced among vulnerable populations, such as girls, children with disabilities, refugee and migrant children, or poor children living in rural or remote areas," urged UNESCO.