UNESCO’s Digital Learning Week 2026 to adopt AI education statement

UNESCO is convening more than 25 ministers of education, tech industry representatives, researchers and students at its Paris headquarters from September 8 to 11, 2026, for Digital Learning Week 2026, themed “Education in the age of AI: Facts | Frictions | Frontiers.” The event, UNESCO’s annual flagship gathering on digital learning, will mark the adoption of a joint ministerial statement on sustaining education as a common good in the age of AI, according to UNESCO’s press advisory.

What the ministerial statement covers

The statement, to be adopted by the more than 25 ministers gathered at UNESCO headquarters, addresses sustaining education as a common good as AI becomes more embedded in classrooms and administration. Alongside the statement, UNESCO will launch a compilation of AI-in-education policy briefs covering AI safety governance, sovereignty, procurement, cost models and age-appropriateness, and will release new data from its annual survey of UNESCO Chairs worldwide on emerging trends in AI in higher education. The organization will also announce the winners of the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of ICT in Education, dedicated this year to “Reimagining Creativity and Critical Thinking with AI.”

Digital Learning Week 2026 is expected to draw more than 1,000 participants in person at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters and thousands more online across the four days, UNESCO said. The program is structured around three themes: what counts as fact in an age of synthetic knowledge, the frictions AI is generating across education systems, and emerging frontiers including public interest AI, digital sovereignty and community-led approaches to technology in schools.

Source: UNESCO, press advisory, August 25, 2026 (last updated September 2, 2026).

Speakers and sessions

The opening day featured a keynote from Shingai Manjengwa, Head of AI Education and Development at the Mila Quebec AI Institute, titled “A nudge or a kick: Moving toward AI safety and sovereignty in education,” followed by a plenary panel on sovereignty, agency and scale, and the launch of UNESCO’s compilation of AI-in-education policy briefs, according to the event’s published agenda. Later sessions on the schedule include a public lecture by Achille Mbembe of the University of the Witwatersrand, a fireside chat between Khan Academy CEO Sal Khan and University College London professor Wayne Holmes, and closing keynotes from Beeban Kidron of the London School of Economics’ Digital Futures for Children research centre and Vanessa Andreotti, Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria.

Background

Digital Learning Week is UNESCO’s annual flagship event on digital learning and the transformation of education, launched in 2023 to convene education leaders, policymakers, researchers and industry representatives. UNESCO published its first Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research in 2023, followed by AI competency frameworks for students and teachers in 2024. Since 2024, UNESCO has run awareness seminars on these frameworks reaching educators and policymakers from more than 100 countries and has directly supported 58 countries in developing frameworks, curricula and quality-assured training programs on digital or AI competencies. This year’s ministerial statement and policy brief compilation extend that framework-building work into a formal, multilaterally endorsed statement on AI’s role in education systems worldwide.

Sources: UNESCO; UNESCO Digital Learning Week 2026

Featured image: photo by Atlantic Ambience on Pexels (free Pexels license).

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Figen Sekin

I specialize in sustainability education, curriculum co-creation, and early-stage project strategy. At WINSS, I craft articles on sustainability, transformative AI, and related topics. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me chasing the perfect sushi roll, exploring cities around the globe, or unwinding with my dog Puffy — the world’s most loyal sidekick.