UK and Kenya launch 100-day countdown to global education summit

Teaching campaign outlines aim to school 40 million more girls worldwide

March 2017. Primary school Dhamma Yasin Arsan. Somalia has one of the worlds lowest enrolment rates for primary school-aged children. Only thirty per cent of children is going to school. and only 40 per cent of these are girls. Not even twenty per cent children from countryside attends schools. Extremely high rates of poverty in communities across Somalia make it difficult for parents to pay school fees. Very often parents are must pay for their childrens education. Poverty is the main reason they give for not sending their children to school. schools have great difficulties to cover their running costs. Girls participation in education is lower than that for boys. Fewer than 50 per cent of girls attend primary school. literate. The low availability of sanitation facilities- like separate latrines for girls and lack of female teachers plus safety concerns and social norms that favour boys education are factors inhibiting parents from enrolling their daughters in school. Nomadic pastoralists is high number in Somalia. Children in these communities are often denied their rights for education. In Somalia, many children attending primary school start school later than the recommended starting age of 6. High numbers of children 14-17 years old attending primary school. Unemployment in Somalia is among the highest in the world. (Photo by Maciej Moskwa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Over the next five years, the UK wants to see 20 million more girls able to read by the age of 10. The UK and Kenya are co-hosting the Global Education Summit in London in July. Getty Images

Simon Rushton author image
Simon Rushton
Apr 21, 2021
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World leaders were on Wednesday urged to encourage millions of girls into education to help transform their lives and boost national economies.
With 100 days until the UK and Kenya host the Global Education Summit, the two nations reminded people of the event's bold ambitions.
Britain's foreign office and Prime Minister Boris Johnson championed the education of girls as the key to preventing exploitation and unlocking their potential.

“In the next five years, the UK wants to see 40 million more girls in school and 20 million more girls reading by the time they are 10,” the foreign office said in a tweet on Wednesday.

The tweet explained some of the thinking behind the summit and its funding of the Global Partnership for Education.


"A child whose mother can read is 50 per cent more likely to live past the age of five, twice as likely to attend school themselves, and 50 per cent more likely to be immunised," it said.
"If every child went to secondary school, infant mortality could be cut in half."

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Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - Pupils seated for the Mathematic, grade 11 exam hall at Gems Cambridge International School in Baniyas. Khushnum Bhandari for The National
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Girls without education are also three times more likely to be married by the time they are 18, while one extra school year can increase a woman's earnings by a fifth.

"Education empowers women to choose if, when and how they have children. If all girls had a secondary education, child pregnancy could fall by 60 per cent," the foreign office said.
Kenya has made education a central plank on its road to industrialisation and is breaking down barriers to enrol as many girls as there are boys in schools.
"An educated population is a country's most valuable resource," Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said.

"GPE has been a key partner in helping us invest in innovative solutions to get all our children – especially girls – learning."

The Global Education Summit will take place in London on July 28 and 29.

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