Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson are going to co-chair the global education summit that is set to happen in July.
The summit which will be held on between the 28th to the 29th of July in London aims to cope up with $5 billion (Sh. 535 billion) in the next half-decade to support the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) work so that 175 million more children shall access quality education the 87 lower and middle-income countries.
This was announced on Thursday after President Uhuru and UK PM Boris Johnson undertook a joint virtual visit to Kenyan and British schools to implore leaders across the world to invest more in education.
The virtual event involved learners from Westlands Primary School in Nairobi and Cleves Cross Primary School in County Durham.
The two leaders participated in a live classroom link-up with schoolchildren from the two schools.
The British High Commissioner to Kenya, Jane Marriott, and the Cabinet Secretary for Education Professor George Magoha also attended the joint visit.
The partnership is in following with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms project.
The UK, one of the largest donors to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), contributes 13 percent of the GPE income since the year 2005.
Kenya, to this date, has received Sh. 10.9 billion and hence becoming the largest beneficiary.
“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 Boris Johnson.
The PM said that across the world, there is a huge untapped resource whereby girls have been cut short or even denied altogether.
The girls could be leading efforts to pull their communities out of the misery of poverty.
“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,” said the UK PM.
High Commissioner Jane Mariot echoed the sentiments of the PM saying that the two countries signed a partnership agreement last year.
“The Global Education Summit we are jointly hosting will make sure all young people have the opportunity to learn. I congratulate the government, school leadership, teachers, students, and all partners for the great work they are doing to make sure that every child gets a quality education,” said Jane Marriot.