Türkiye's first lady Emine Erdogan has urged the international community to adopt inclusive approaches in raising a healthy generation, calling for cooperation between the family, the school and society.
In a video message to the “6th High-Level Women Leaders Forum” held in Burundi, Erdogan noted that the world today hosts the most populous generation of adolescents in history, consisting of nearly 2 billion children and young people aged 10–19.
She argued that the opportunities, educational possibilities, and safe living conditions offered to them would determine not only their individual destinies, but also the future.
“For example, building schools alone is no longer enough to ensure children’s right to education. It is also necessary to eliminate environmental problems, conflicts, and economic inequalities,” Erdogan said.
“Similarly, raising a healthy generation requires much more than ending hunger; it also necessitates supporting clean agriculture and transforming modern eating habits,” she added.
The first lady warned that deepening global inequalities had resulted into contradictions in which some children have unlimited opportunities, while others are deprived of even their basic rights.
"On one side of the world, children’s screen time has reached an alarming seven hours a day. Addictions such as social media and video games greatly harm their development. On the other side of the world, more than 1 billion school-age children cannot access the internet required for their education," she pointed out.
She further warned that uncontrolled growth of digital technology poses enormous risks such as online exploitation and cyberbullying, warning that: “Technology is advancing rapidly, but the place of moral and ethical values—those that bring compassion to medicine, idealism to teaching, and human concern to engineering—is shrinking within educational systems.”
Emine Erdoğan expressed her sincere belief that the forum would open new horizons for humanity, and conveyed her gratitude to Angeline Ndayishimiye, the Burundian first lady, for her leadership and efforts on behalf of children.
During her remarks, Angeline Ndayishimiye also extended her gratitude to Emine Erdoğan for participating in the programme with a video message.
