The World Education Forum in Incheon, is a key step in charting the path towards ensuring that all children are in school and learning by 2030.
“We need to be audacious to address the enormous challenges we face. With 58 million children still not in primary school and the desire to lift ambition to achieve more years of better quality education for all, business as usual is nowhere near enough. We need to not only aim higher but we must be bolder on financing and embracing better ways of working to achieve our shared goals.”
Speaking at the opening plenary session on Tuesday, Julia Gillard, Board Chair of the Global Partnership for Education, urged global leaders, governments and private donors, civil society and the private sector as well as developing countries to take bold steps to close the $22 billion annual external financing gap standing in the way of achieving the new education Sustainable Development Goal.
“The new sustainable development agenda for education is ambitious – and it should be. But it cannot succeed unless we are equally ambitious about our financing goals. Securing the necessary resources will be key. In 15 years, I want to look back at today and be able to say: ‘This was the day we committed to the plan and created the momentum to deliver the financing needed to unlock the talent of generations to come’.”
Press Release: Julia Gillard Urges Bold Steps to Ensure Education Needs for All Children are Met
Julia Gillard: the UN's new education goal is ambitious and audacious. It has to be