Kenya and UK to co-host global education summit in 2021



Kenya and the United Kingdom will co-host a landmark global education summit slated for mid-2021. The summit will raise funds for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), which intends to raise at least $5 billion.

The funds are being raised to ensure that students across the globe from vulnerable countries smoothly transition back to school following closure during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, as experts warn that many children will never return, particularly as countries experience an economic contraction in the wake of the pandemic.

In a statement released by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), President Uhuru Kenyatta and  Prime Minister Boris Johnson noted that, the Covid-19 pandemic, has worsened the global education crisis, with 1.3 billion children, including 650 million girls dropping out of schools.

"We must use the opportunity of GPE’s financing conference to make ambitious pledges to invest in quality education so our children and young people have the skills and knowledge they need to seize the opportunities of the 21st century," said Uhuru. Boris Johnson on his part highlighted the time lost by learners due to the pandemic and urged the global community to come together and raise funds towards the GPE project.

This funding will help ensure that 175 million children can learn in 87 lower-income countries. In the longer term, this investment could add $164 billion to economies in the developing world, lift 18 million people out of poverty, and protect two million girls from early marriages.

Since its creation in 2002, GPE has contributed to getting over 160 million more children in school and doubling girls’ enrolment in the countries they work in. It works with a wide range of stakeholders to improve access to quality education in lower-income countries, using a model focused on working closely with national governments, who must also commit to raising domestic resources for education.

Photo courtesy / Google

Article by Jedidah Mwangi

https://www.globalpartnership.org/news/uk-and-kenya-host-major-education-summit-2021

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