As of today (June 25), the European capital will host a two-day conference whose aim is to raise at least 2.6 billion euros during next three years to boost primary education in poor countries. The conference called the Second Global Partnership for Education Replenishment Pledging Conference, hosted by the European Commission, will be attended by more than 600 experts in development and education, including 40 ministers of education, Andris Piebalgs, spokesperson of Development Commissioner, has said. He also added that the goal of the event would be to try to deal with the “unacceptable” reality that 57 million children, more than half of whom are girls, are not given an opportunity to go to school. Moreover, more than 250 million children are enrolled in schools, which do not provide them with quality education.
Minister Polack emphasized that the EU28 is the most generous donor of the conference of the Global Partnership for Education, a platform of donors and developing countries supervising the progress towards the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education. He added that thanks to the efforts of the EU, 14 million children could have started attending school during the last 10 years. If the conference succeeds, additional 30 million children could be provided with access to education throughout the developing world. The conference will welcome many high-profile personalities such as Australia’s former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who is leading the Global Partnership for Education. Attendees will include also the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Augustin Matata Ponyo, the Director General of UNESCO Irina Bokova, the Executive Director of UNICEF Anthony Lake, Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva, and others.
