Kenya and the United Kingdom will co-host a high-level summit in 2021 to lead global action to educate all children.
Covid-19 has worsened education worldwide, with 1.3 billion children out of education at the peak of school closures.
Experts warn that many children may not return to schools, particularly as countries experience economic contraction occasioned by coronavirus pandemic.
Kenya schools resumed physical learning last week, in a phased reopening starting with Grade 4, Class 8, and Form 4 learners, with concerns raised on some learners reporting to schools without face masks.
Being out of schools do have a long term effect on individuals as well as communities, with girls particularly at risk. The benefits of schooling are both transformative and multi-generational – a child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live past the age of and twice as likely to attend schools according to arena.co.ke. With one additional school year, an earning of a woman can increase by 20%.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been championing girls’ education as the key to prevent exploitation and unveiling potential around the world. The 2021 summit will be meant to raise funds for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) vital work in developing countries helping to take children to schools, take communities out of poverty and prevent girls from early pregnancies.
“Since coronavirus struck, the number of children out of school around the world soared past 1.3 billion. It is a toll of wasted potential and missed opportunity that is a tragedy not just for those children, but for each and every one of us,” Borris Johnson said.
“Education unlocks doors to opportunity and prosperity. It offers girls a ticket out of poverty and exploitation to chart their own future,” he added.
“That’s why I am excited that the UK will co-host the replenishment of the Global Partnership for Education in 2021. I urge the global community to come together, dig deep, and ensure we fund their vital work to give every child the chance to an education.”
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The Kenyan Government has put education an integral part of becoming an industrial nation.
As a partner to the GPE, Kenya has made impressive gains, achieving universal primary education and breaking gender barriers to enrolling as many girls as boys in schools.
“An educated population is a country’s most valuable resource. GPE has been a key partner in innovative solutions to get all our children, especially girls learning,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said.
“We must use the opportunity of the 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,” he added.
