President Kagame says more funding for education is needed to reverse the COVID-19 impact and meet SDG target. Photo File/Urugwiro Village
President Paul Kagame has called on countries to scale up expenditure on education if they are to reverse the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target.
President Kagame made the call on Thursday during the Global Education Summit, which he participated in virtually, pointing out that the pandemic is likely to reverse the gains registered over the years.
“This summit is an important reminder that the ongoing COVID pandemic must not reverse the gains made in education access and quality, particularly in Africa,”
“Globally, we still need to triple current spending in education to reach the Sustainable Development Goals target. In Rwanda, we have worked hard to reach the 20% target of education expenditure, including an innovative national effort that built more than 22,500 classrooms in the last year,” President Kagame said.
He said that the challenges at hand mean that a lot more needs to be done, highlighting that increasing spending efficiency alongside allocating higher amounts to education will ensure that all children are better prepared to lead more productive and fulfilled lives.
“In addition, sustained investments in higher education are critical to nurture specialized knowledge and skills needed to grow our economies and accelerate development,”
“Rwanda looks forward to continued work with the Global Partnership for Education, and regional partners, towards the best learning outcomes. I thank you and wish you a fruitful summit,” President Kagame said, thanking the co-hosts, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for their commitment to the Global Partnership for Education.
The Global Education Summit: Financing GPE 2021-2025 is the culmination of Global Partnership for Education’s “Raise Your Hand” financing campaign.
It brought together global leaders and stakeholders to support quality education for all children, by making 5-year pledges to support GPE’s work to help transform education systems in up to 90 countries and territories.
The campaign aims to raise at least US$5 billion over five years to support education systems in up to 90 countries and territories, where 80% of the world’s out-of-school children live.
