üChina: On April 4, UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enanyappointed Professor Chen Qun as Assistant Director-General for Education, making it the second time a Chinese national has held this position.
üPakistan:Pakistan is advancing digital learning to empower youth. In collaboration with UNESCO and other international partners, the country has introduced a national artificial intelligence policy to help young people counter misinformation, expand development opportunities, and contribute to building more resilient and rational, peaceful communities.
üUnited States: On March 24, the U.S. Department of Labor and education technology company Arist announced the launch of the "Make America AI-Ready" initiative, a free AI literacy course designed to equip Americans with foundational AI skills and promote AI education nationwide.
üInternational Organization: UNICEF reports that the current digital environment fails to serve the best interests of children, who are widely exposed to risks such as data exploitation, inappropriate content, and privacy breaches. It calls for transforming children from policy bystanders into co-shapers of the digital future, and puts forward six key action areas.
China: Professor Chen Qun Appointed UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education
On April 4, 2026, UNESCO Director-GeneralKhaled El-Enanyofficially announced at Paris headquarters the appointment of Chinese scholar Chen Qun as Assistant Director-General for Education. This marks the second time a Chinese national has held this position, following Tang Qian’s appointment to the same role in 2010. From 2012 to 2017, Chen served as the Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in Teacher Education at East China Normal University. Since 2021, he has been the Chair of the Governing Board of the UNESCO Teacher Education Centre, dedicating himself to promoting international academic cooperation and the training of global teachers.
Source: UNESCO,Xinhua News Agency
https://www.unesco.org/zh/articles/chenqunjiaoshouhuorenjiaokewenzuzhijiaoyuzhulizongganshi
https://www3.xinhuanet.com/world/20260404/a6c4e0042e624a5ba203aefafd85030e/c.html
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/zKZ6bfqkY3aue0n5XHqSzg
Compiler:HE Yale, UNESCO-TEC
Pakistan: Pakistan Partners with UNESCO to Advance Digital Learning for Youth Empowerment, Social Peace, and Resilience
According to UNESCO Islamabad, Pakistan is expanding access to quality digital resources through policy innovation, institutional collaboration, and digital literacy enhancement. These efforts aim to help young people counter misinformation, broaden development opportunities, and actively participate in building more resilient and peaceful communities.
In 2025, Pakistan launched its National AI Policy, which plans to promote technology ethics and accessibility through multilingual campaigns. In partnership with UNESCO, the country has also carried out projects on AI capacity-building for teachers and Media and Information Literacy (MIL), bringing together over 400 stakeholders to help formulate a national roadmap. At the same time, Pakistan is working to empower women and girls through digital skills training, aiming to close the gender gap in the technology sector.
Despite persistent challenges such as uneven internet coverage and urban-rural disparities in digital literacy, Pakistan is coordinating efforts among government bodies, educational institutions, and international partners to invest in infrastructure and inclusive policies.
Source:UNESCO
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/s8mV6WfAAULC43MV5NjpQQ
Compilers:ZHENG Rouyu, RIICE, Shanghai Normal University; XIA Yuxuan, UNESCO-TEC
United States: U.S. Department of Labor Launches "Make America AI-Ready" Initiative in Partnership with Arist to Boost Workforce AI Literacy
On March 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor, through a public-private partnership with education technology company Arist, announced the launch of the "Make America AI-Ready" initiative. The program offers a free artificial intelligence literacy course designed to equip Americans with foundational AI skills and advance AI education nationwide.
The course delivers bite-sized learning content and daily challenges to users, requiring just 10 minutes per day. The content is structured to directly align with the five foundational areas outlined in the Department of Labor’s recently-released AI Literacy Framework: Understand AI Principles, Explore AI Uses, Direct AI Effectively, Evaluate AI Outputs, and Use AI Responsibly. The course concludes by offering participants recommendations for advanced resources based on their unique goals or interests.
Source:U.S. Department of Labor
https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osec/osec20260324
Compilers:FANG Fan, RIICE, Shanghai Normal University; FENGJiamiao, UNESCO-TEC
International Organization: UNICEF Calls for Child Participation in Building a Safer Digital Future
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has released a report titled From Children's Voices to Action: A youth-led roadmap to realize the best interests of children in the digital environment. The study incorporates direct input from children across seven countries, including Sierra Leone, Brazil, and Malaysia, alongside insights from 30 young people from around the world gathered through participatory foresight analysis.
The report notes that the current digital environment fails to meet the best interests of children, who commonly face issues such as limited user choice, data exploitation, widespread inappropriate content, age verification loopholes, harm to mental well-being, and a lack of awareness of their rights. Many children feel that the so-called "illusion of control" is nothing but a mirage.
UNICEF stresses the importance of translating children's voices into truly actionable measures. To this end, the report outlines six major recommendations: transforming digital literacy education; ensuring transparent, age-appropriate platform communication; establishing protection mechanisms for AI-generated content; building a global digital well-being framework; strengthening legal protection and enforcement; and empowering youth participation in institutional design and monitoring.
Source: UNICEF
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/svGg5pxqMJ8czjBJ2J3bJw
Compilers:SHENQiuyu, RIICE, Shanghai Normal University; XIA Yuxuan, UNESCO-TEC
