In the rooms where North African early childhood educators congregate these days, there’s a certain energy that combines long-suppressed frustration with something more akin to cautious hope. The term “rights,” which wasn’t in the local lexicon ten years ago, is now included in discussions that formerly revolved around well-known grievances about underfunded preschools and undertrained caregivers. not the curriculum. not the rates of enrollment. rights. Even though it’s still quiet, a lot of that change is related to the developments surrounding the OMEP World Assembly and Conference in Poznań, Poland, which advocates from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt are watching with an almost urgent focus.
The theme of the 78th OMEP World Conference, which is set for July 2026, is “When a Child Speaks…” Korczak’s Inspirations for Education and Children’s Rights. Depending on your perspective, this theme may or may not resonate. The phrase is not abstract to educators in North Africa. The notion that a child’s voice is not only acceptable but also politically and ethically required is subtly radical in classrooms where students are frequently instructed to sit quietly and absorb. The Polish-Jewish educator Janusz Korczak, who passed away in Treblinka in 1942 after refusing to leave the orphaned children under his care, saw the child as a complete human being in the present tense rather than a prospective citizen. It may not seem important, but that distinction is crucial.
It’s possible that the conference itself, as well as what it stands for within a broader arc, is what attracts North African advocates to this particular moment. From Geneva in September to Paris in October to Samarkand in November 2025, OMEP’s recent advocacy campaign has been exceptionally vigorous, urging organizations like UNESCO and the UN Human Rights Council to acknowledge free, inclusive early childhood education as a formal right. Seeing a global organization make that case at the highest levels is something between validation and instruction for a region where early childhood care is low on national budget priorities and even lower in policy conversations. Even if only momentarily, there’s a feeling that the window is open.
It is easy to spot the discrepancy between rhetoric and reality when strolling through the expansive outer neighborhoods of Casablanca or the older medina districts of Tunis. Attendance at preschool is still inconsistent. The pay that caregivers receive is a reflection of how little society values their labor. Early childhood teacher training is frequently regarded as a lesser credential. These are not trade secrets. Advocates who are keeping an eye on the Poznań process, however, claim that the framework for arguing why this should change is currently changing. The anticipated Poznań Declaration 2026, a collective declaration on sustainability, inclusion, and children’s rights, provides regional advocates with a globally recognized document to bring home. In policy rooms, where local arguments are frequently written off as localized, this is important.
Additionally, something less concrete is being pushed by the OMEP conference. OMEP is advocating for the explicit inclusion of early childhood educators in the UNESCO revision of the 1966 ILO-UNESCO Recommendation on Teacher Status, which is the kind of process that rarely makes headlines but transforms professions for generations. North African caregivers, who have up until now been mostly invisible in such frameworks, may see formal recognition of their work in ways that impact social standing, training needs, and pay. It’s still unclear if individual governments will take action on that revision or if it will go far enough. However, the direction is noteworthy.
The fact that Korczak’s legacy is not a European legacy is something that North African supporters appear to understand—possibly more clearly than outsiders might anticipate. His insistence on listening, maintaining dignity, and refusing to treat kids like objects of instruction rather than subjects of experience is an all-encompassing provocation. Furthermore, Poznań’s noise may be just what’s needed to raise awareness in an area where early childhood education policy has historically been the quietest.
