The International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (The Education Commission) announced the winners of a global youth video competition today that challenged young people to share their ideas about the future of education in a 30-second video. The winning entry, created by 18-year-old Ruth Arunachalam and 19-year-old Tanzina Nowshin from Canada, was selected from nearly 400 submissions from over 60 countries and will be screened at the Education Commission’s report launch in front of world leaders and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on September 18, 2016.
The young Canadian filmmakers put together a collage of voices around the question, “What does your ideal school of the future look like?” and ended the piece with the powerful statement, “Regardless of race, gender or religion, everyone deserves to go to school.” Arunachalam and Nowshin will attend the launch event and be recognized at the major UN event by UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of the Education Commission, Gordon Brown.
Brown said, “Young people are at the heart of the Commission’s work as the upcoming generations will have the most to lose if we fail to invest in education today.
The Youth Panel, worldwide youth consultations and the Education Youth Video Challenge brought together the creative energy and ideas of hundreds of young people as the Commission reimagined the future of education.
Young people are on the front lines of the civil rights struggle of our time: ensuring every girl and boy can realize his or her potential through education.”
With support from MTV Voices and the Global Youth Ambassadors of A World At School, the Education Youth Video Challenge asked young people from around the world aged 13 to 30 to submit 30-second videos that addressed two questions: How can education best prepare you for the future? and What would your ideal school of the future look like?
A moving video about child marriage and girls’ education created by 23-year-old Preeti Shakya from Nepal won second prize, and 30-year-old Gustavo Santana from Brazil won third prize for his lyrical animated video that proposes “quality education shall develop citizens for life, who are complete and capable to deal with the world with responsibility, enquiring skills and creativity.” Public voting determined two People’s Choice award winners: Grace Sameve, a 23-year-old from Indonesia, for her personal testimonial video that describes an ideal education as “one that provides every individual the best-fit support to learn, to understand, accept and grow to be the best version of oneself,” and Gustavo Santana from Brazil, whose animated video was the competition’s only double winner.
The winning videos were selected by the Education Commission’s Youth Panel alongside Beth Garrod, Director of International Social Responsibility at Viacom and Ahmad Alhendawi, United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth.
Ms. Garrod said, “MTV Voices is proud to support the Education Commission’s efforts and the global movement needed to help ensure everyone’s basic right to quality education around the world. The Education Youth Video Challenge was a fantastic way to tap the creative minds of young people who shared their passion, voices and ideas about the future of education. We look forward to helping turn these ideas into action!”
From Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, Brazil to Vietnam, young people put their creative talents to good use and produced videos that share diverse ideas about why education matters and the critical need to make quality education accessible to all. Entries ranged from selfie-style videos shot on cellphones to hand-drawn animations to polished productions from budding filmmakers. Whatever the format, one thing is clear – young people see education as the key to a brighter, more peaceful future. Their videos make passionate calls for inclusion, creativity, innovation, harnessing technology, supporting teachers, fostering values and mindsets, global citizenship, tolerance, and educational opportunity for all.
View the Education Youth Video Challenge gallery here:
Links to the Education Youth Video Challenge winners:
Grand Prize: https://youtu.be/qZbgYtzZjEU
Video by Ruth Arunachalam, 18 years old and Tanzina Nowshin,19 years old from Canada
Second Prize: https://youtu.be/CrsrxTrz5CU
Video by Preeti Shakya, 23, from Nepal
Third Prize:
https://youtu.be/wLG3VPYCehI
Video by Gustavo Santana, 30, from Brazil
People’s Choice Award winners
https://youtu.be/Z-4pgc-rmDA
Video by Grace Sameve, 23, from Indonesia
https://youtu.be/wLG3VPYCehI
Video by Gustavo Santana, 30, from Brazil