As the global community marks the International Day of Education 2026, The COLE’ctive Initiative has spotlighted COLE2Learn, its cross-cutting education platform designed to link learning directly to real-world outcomes in public health, economic resilience, and community security across Rivers State.
Aligned with the 2026 global theme, “The power of youth in co-creating education,” COLE2Learn positions education as a shared civic system rather than a standalone sector. The programme aims to empower 230,000 young people across all 23 local government areas of the state with applied, sector-linked learning that supports development priorities and strengthens people-centred governance.
Rather than duplicating formal education structures, COLE2Learn functions as the learning backbone of The COLE’ctive ecosystem, embedding education across civic participation, enterprise development, climate action, innovation, humanitarian response, and leadership renewal.
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“Education must be designed around outcomes, not abstractions,” said Mr. Tonye Patrick Cole, whose leadership vision inspires The COLE’ctive Initiative. “COLE2Learn connects learning directly to healthier lives, stronger livelihoods, and safer communities.
Cross-Cutting Education for Development Impact
The learning framework for COLE2Learn is drawn from the key sectors represented within The COLE’ctive’s programmes. These include civic and democratic literacy to support accountable governance; health and wellbeing education to strengthen prevention and community resilience; and economic, financial, and enterprise literacy to improve employability and income stability.
The platform also integrates digital, innovation, and media literacy; environmental and climate education to support green and blue economy resilience; peace and community safety learning to reinforce social cohesion; gender, disability, and inclusion education to ensure equity; and culture-based learning to strengthen identity and unity.
Delivery is achieved through community learning hubs, digital platforms, media mobility channels, and civic exchange formats, ensuring education is embedded in everyday participation rather than confined to classrooms.
A programme representative described the initiative as a systems-based approach to development.
“COLE2Learn is not an add-on to our programmes,” the representative said. “It is the mechanism that ensures every sector—from health to enterprise to climate—benefits from informed and capable participation.”
Education as Infrastructure for Stability and Growth
By linking learning directly to life outcomes, COLE2Learn positions education as a form of infrastructure that supports long-term stability. Health literacy improves prevention and wellbeing, enterprise education expands economic opportunity, while civic and security learning reinforces trust, safety, and social order.
“When education is aligned with development priorities, it becomes a stabilising force,” a COLE’ctive institutional spokesperson said. “COLE2Learn demonstrates how learning can simultaneously improve health outcomes, economic inclusion, and community security.”
The platform is embedded within The COLE’ctive’s five-part strategy of advocacy, activation, aggregation, acceleration, and alleviation, ensuring that participation across programmes is informed, leadership is credible, and development outcomes are sustainable.
Education and governance stakeholders have welcomed the outcome-oriented focus of the initiative, describing it as a practical model for translating global education commitments into local impact.
As International Day of Education 2026 calls for renewed emphasis on youth-inclusive and co-created learning systems, COLE2Learn stands as an example of how education can be integrated into civic life and development strategy.
By aligning learning with health, wealth, and security outcomes, the initiative reinforces The COLE’ctive’s core principle that education, when designed as a shared system, strengthens people, institutions, and society as a whole.
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