6 November 2014 Last Updated on 6 November 2014
Today in Doha, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of the Education Above All Foundation, put forth a challenge to the world – governments, donors and civil society - to live up to its promises to the 58 million children who are denied a primary education.
Her Highness called on all sectors to break new ground with different approaches to accelerating access to education for the most marginalised children at the World Innovation Summit for Education.
Setting out what needs to be done in order to achieve universal primary education, Her Highness said: “What we need is political will. We need to commit to the principle that that education should be at the centre of development goals, as an enablerof all other areas of development. Once we have that commitment, we can come together to make it happen by galvanising partners, getting the right aid architecture, getting resources to the most marginalised and securing better accountability from all parties”.
Her Highness stressed that with this combination of factors, it would be possible to get all children into primary education.
The plenary discussion culminated in recognition of the need for a big and urgent push to accelerate progress, with the following call to action:
- Increase funds and accountability for pledges to education
- Innovate to stretch funds
- Deepen youth / civil society engagement on the unacceptability of the situation
- Boost funds for disaster and humanitarian purposes
- Get better data and use it
- Prioritise quality primary education for the marginalised
Her Highness said: “Every child denied a primary education is one child too many. The children who remain out of school are the most marginalised, and are therefore most in need of assistance. If we break our promise again, we are putting our dignity at risk.”
A panel of distinguished development and education advocates, experts and private sector representatives identified the need for new efforts to be undertaken to right the curve towards progress on access to primary education.
In a pre-recorded message, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia said: “I believe we are not only talking about more access of children, particularly children in low income countries. But now were talking in post-2015 about quality of education. We have found that using enrolment indicators, number of schools and ratios of teachers to students, as useful as they are, did not show whether the students were learning at a level that truly equipped them to become professionals. We’d like to urge everyone to give some attention to quality in the new development agenda.”
At the turn of the millennium, the UN led a process that resulted in the creation of the Millennium Development Goals, including MDG2 – achieve universal primary education. With about 420 days before the deadline of the MDGs, the finish line remains in the distance with 58 million children lacking access to their fundamental human right to education. Meanwhile, the follow-on sustainable development priorities post-2015 are being debated now. The outcome of this process is due in September 2015.
Speaking on the topic of financing of primary education, Laila Bokhari, State Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister of Norway, said: “Reaching the most vulnerable is a priority we are committed to. We need to show leadership from the very top to show the importance of the commitment to education.”
Founded by Her Highness in 2012, Educate A Child, a global programme of Education Above All, has in two short years made possible the establishment of commitments for more than 5 million children to access educational programmes via co-funded projects in more than 30 countries around the world.
An emerging market, Qatar has committed 50% of its overseas development aid to education. Other countries have joined the Global Partnership for Education, adding new names to the traditional aid donors that have remained flat or declined in recent years.
Education Above All, through the leadership of Her Highness, will move the agenda forward in collaboration with partners to ensure the SDGs prioritise primary education. Via high-profile appearances, and work with various development stakeholders, EAA will work to set an action plan for the next education development goal, a direction that prioritises the fulfillment of the promise to out of school children.
To engage the social media community beyond WISE, Her Highness introduced a global call-to-action to lend thousands of voices to an online Thunderclap on 13 November 2014. Individuals can sign up to donate a tweet or post to the cause via a link on the Education Above All and Educate A Child websites (educationaboveall.org and educateachild.org, respectively).
Universal primary education achievable: Sheikha Moza
| ||
Ailyn Agonia Doha HER Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser stressed that the realisation of universal primary education can be done and achieved, during a plenary session on the development agenda for education post-2015 at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE 2014) on Wednesday. While recognising the failure of the global community to meet the second goal in UN's Millennium Development Goal of ensuring children everywhere would be able to complete full course of primary education by 2015, HH Sheikha Moza urged that the global community needs to reflect on this and learn important lessons. According to reports, with about 420 days before the deadline of the MDG, 58 million children still lack access to their fundamental right to education. "If we reach out to marginalised children, the hardest to reach, through unique ideas or developing different devices and work on different efforts, realising universal primary education can be done and achieved," HH Sheikha Moza said. She put forth a challenge to the world governments, donors and civil society - to live up to its promise to these 58 million children. She underlined the need for political will. She also mentioned the need to double the funds allotted for education. "We need to commit to the principle that education should be at the centre of development goals. Once we have that commitment, we can come together to make it happen by galvanising partners, getting the right aid architecture, getting resources to the most marginalised and securing better accountability from all parties," said Sheikha Moza. Graca Machel, Mozambican politician and humanitarian, underlined the need to get all countries and regions involved in the development agenda for education."There is a need to invest much more than what we are doing. Every single country, every single region has to sit down," she said. Laila Bokhari, State Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister of Norway, said:"Reaching the most vulnerable is a priority we are committed to. We need to show leadership from the very top to show the importance of the commitment to education." Among the highlights of the discussion are the need to come up with innovative solutions that will make a difference; deepen youth engagement; boost the disaster and humanitarian fund for education; get better data and use it; and prioritise quality primary education for the marginalised. Qatar Airways donates QR2.4m to EAA's Educate A Child
November 05, 2014 - 5:43:38 pm
DOHA: Qatar Airways (QA) Wednesday donated QR 2.4 million to Education Above All Foundation for its 'Educate A Child' global programme.
QA Group Chief Akbar Al Baker presented the cheque to Educate A Child representative today at an event held at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
The QA In-Flight Donation Programme will help children in co-funded education programmes in more than 30 countries worldwide towards EAC's vision of a world where every individual has the opportunity to learn through a quality education.
Speaking at the event Al Baker said, "Qatar Airways is honoured to be a communications partner for the Educate A Child programme, championing its messages to a worldwide audience through our travelling public.
"The funds presented today symbolize the overwhelming support received from our passengers, together with the matched funds from Qatar Airways, and highlights the enthusiasm which this programme has drawn from all corners of the globe."
The funds represent a commitment made by QA to match funds donated by passengers aboard its flights in seatback envelopes. Cabin crew introduce the EAC programme and invite passengers to donate any amount, in any currency.
Speaking about the partnership, EAA CEO Marcio Barbosa said, "Qatar Airways is a special partner, a leading Qatari company supporting a Qatar-based international NGO.
"We appreciate the resources that Mr. Al Baker and the Qatar Airways team have put towards raising awareness of the issue of out of school children and their financial contribution towards accelerating our efforts to close the gap."
Qatar Airways is a resource partner of Educate A Child, leveraging the airline’s communications platforms and reach via over 23 million passengers per year to 145 destinations worldwide to advance the goals of EAC.
Educate A Child was launched in 2012 by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser as a catalyst to help break down the barriers preventing children from being in school. EAC is working with global and local organisations to turn commitments into action.
Funds collected via this partnership go towards Educate A Child projects active in countries affected by poverty, conflict, gender discrimination and natural disaster.
To date, more than 2.5 million children have access to education programmes thanks to projects co-funded by EAC. (QNA)
EAC gets QR2.4mn from Qatar Airways
Viewed by: 461
Qatar Airways officials with Barbosa after presenting the cheque.
Educate A Child ( EAC), a global programme of the Education Above All Foundation, received QR2.4mn donation as part of the Qatar Airways partnership.
The funds will go towards benefiting children in co-funded education programmes in more than 30 countries worldwide, driving toward EAC’s vision of a world where every individual has the opportunity to learn through a quality education.
EAC was launched in 2012 by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of Qatar Foundation, as a catalyst to help break down the barriers preventing children from being in school. EAC is working with global and local organisations to turn commitments into action.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar al-Baker, said: “Qatar Airways is honoured to be a communications ambassador for the EAC initiative, championing its messages to a worldwide audience through our travelling public. The funds presented today symbolise the overwhelming support received from our passengers, together with the matched funds from Qatar Airways, and highlights the enthusiasm which this initiative has drawn from all corners of the globe.”
Senior Vice President of Contracts and Procurement at Qatar Airways, Mohsen Alyafei, presented the cheque to EAC representatives in a ceremony held at the World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha.
Marcio Barbosa, chief executive officer of Education Above All, said: “Qatar Airways is a special partner, a leading Qatari company supporting a Qatar-based international NGO. We appreciate the resources that al-Baker and the Qatar Airways team have put towards raising awareness of the issue of out of schoolchildren and their financial contribution towards accelerating our efforts to close the gap.”
The funds represent a commitment made by Qatar Airways to match funds donated by passengers aboard its flights in seat back envelopes. Cabin crew introduce the EAC programme and invite passengers to donate any amount, in any currency. The collection programme started following a memorandum of understanding between EAC and Qatar Airways in April 2013, and continues.
|
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário