UNESCO alerts on heritage sites damage in Syria and Iraq

(Xinhua) -- The destruction of Syrian and Iraqi heritage sites by the Islamic state (IS) group have been a wake-up call for nations on how much damage lack of education can cause to the global community, senior UNESCO offcial said Saturday.

Irina Bokova, Director-General of the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) made the remarks at at the two-day Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF) 2016.

Bokova said "the terrible footages and photographs" of the IS fighter hammering heritage sites in Syria and Iraq have triggered an unprecedented awareness in the global community of how much all nations are connected to the ongoing conflict in Syria and Iraq.

"People outside the Middle East have suddenly felt involved in the conflicts. The heritage sites in Syria and Iraq are the birth places, the very roots of human civilization, of our common human evolution, and nobody could feel unattached when watching scenes of their destruction," Bokova said.

He added that a lack of education was not the only, but one of the many drivers behind civil wars and armed conflicts.

"Studies conducted by UNESCO found out that 250 million boys and girls worldwide are illiterate although they had a primary school education of four years. This is why the UNESCO strategic plan for 2030, the Education Agenda 2030, is to improve the quality of education globally," the 63-year old Bulgarian UNESCO chief said.

The broader goal of the agenda is to create "resilient societies" which are able to educate children through promoting tolerance and teachings about the value of cultural heritage," she said.