Why President Kenyatta, British PM Boris urged world leaders to invest more in education
President Uhuru Kenyatta and United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson Thursday took part in a live classroom link-up with schoolchildren at Westlands Primary and Cleves Cross Primary School in England to urge world leaders to invest in education.
The joint visit, also attended by the British High Commissioner to Kenya, Jane Marriott and Cabinet Secretary for Education Professor George Magoha, comes just two months ahead of Kenya and the UK co-chairing the Global Education Summit to raise money for education across the world.
The virtual event brought together students from Westlands Primary school in Nairobi and Cleves Cross Primary School in County Durham in North East England, through the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms project.
Kenya has been the largest beneficiary of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) receiving Ksh 10.9 billion to date with the UK being the largest donor contributing 13 per cent of the GPE income since 2005.
Ahead of the summit in London on 28- 29 July, Kenya and the UK are pushing other countries to raise $5 billion over five years to give 175 million children the opportunity to learn.
“Supporting girls to get 12 years of quality education is one of the smartest investments we can make as the world recovers from Covid-19. Otherwise, we risk creating a lost pandemic generation,” said Johnson
“I’m going to be working throughout the UK’s G7 presidency to ensure leaders invest in those girls and boost children’s life chances around the world,” he added.
The visits gave the two leaders an opportunity to directly engage with pupils, aged between 9 and 11 years, and create a high profile moment for championing education for all, with a special focus on technology and girls’ education.
The two schools are part of the Connecting Classrooms Through Global Learning (CCGL), a program that provides opportunities for pupils to engage peers across countries on global issues such as climate action and gender equality.
GPE aims to raise at least 5 billion US Dollars to transform education systems for more than 1 billion girls and boys in up to 90 countries and territories.
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