Finland's Basic Education Act awarded

Finland's Basic Education Act won the Silver Future Policy Award for the promotion of children's equal access to education and training.

The Act was recognized for guaranteeing children’s equal access to high-quality education and training, irrespective of ethnic origin, age, wealth, language or location.

Finland's holistic education approach is one of the key factors behind the high quality of the Finnish education system.

The Gold Award was granted to Zanzibar for its Children’s Act, which has increased awareness of children's rights and strengthened child protection. The Silver Award was shared by Finland and Maryland of the U.S.A. Maryland is the first U.S. state to require students to be environmentally literate as a high school graduation requirement. Other states have started to follow Maryland's example.

Honourable mentions were given to Sweden for its Children and Parent Code to prohibit all corporal punishment and other humiliating treatment of children, and to Argentina for its Constitutional Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment.

The Future Policy Award, granted by the World Future Council, is an international prize that celebrates exemplary policies rather than people. The winners were announced by the World Future Council together with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UNICEF.
The award ceremony was held at the Inter-Parliamentary Union's Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday 20 October.