UK And Kenya Set To Host Major Education Summit In 2021

 The United Kingdom and Kenya will co-host a high-level summit next year to lead global action to educate every child.

Coronavirus has worsened the global education crisis, with 1.3 billion children–including 650 million girls–lacking access to education at the peak of school closures.

Experts warn that many children will never return, particularly as countries experience an economic contraction in the wake of the pandemic.

In Kenya, schools resumed physical learning from Monday, in a phased reopening starting with Grade 4, Class 8 and Form 4 learners, with concerns raised that some were reporting back without masks.

Missing out on education does long term damage to individuals and communities, with girls particularly at risk. The benefits of schooling are transformative and multi-generational – a child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live past the age of five and twice as likely to attend school themselves. With just one additional school year, a woman’s earnings can increase by a fifth.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has championed girls education as the key to preventing exploitation and unlocking potential around the world, and the UK is the top donor to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Next year’s summit will raise funds for GPE’s vital work in developing countries helping to get children into school, lift communities out of poverty, and prevent girls from being forced into child marriage.

‘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,’ the UK Prime Minister said.