EI’s General Secretary, Fred van Leeuwen, has told activists at the GCE General Assembly that “resources for investment in education, for the future of our children and young people are there. It takes political will to make them available!”
In his address to the Global Campaign for Education (GCE)– of which EI is a founding member – Van Leeuwen said: “Do not imagine for one moment that the revolution welling up from the depths of despair of our youth is limited to any one region of the world. It is there, across all developing countries. It is there in emerging economies, in industrialised countries, and it is certainly here in France, where the reality is that teachers have become the sans-culottes of the education revolution.
Van Leeuwen went on to state: “In December, we told President Sarkozy, when he was consulting on priorities for the next G20, that millions of young people who are not in school, training, or the world of work, represent a veritable time-bomb for G20 countries, and all countries.
“This is the context for our discussion on securing resources for universal, quality, public education. It is not about whether we can secure the resources. The governments of this planet have to mobilise the resources, just as they did to bail out the financial system two years ago. Tunisia and Egypt today are France or Britain and the United States or China tomorrow, unless the resources are made available for young people to have purpose in their lives.”
Former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was also in attendance at the event in Paris, France, which runs from 22-27 February. He called on world leaders to invest in education, arguing that it is the “central agenda” to help the global economy recover.
He added: “We stand here today not just united in our demand of education for all, but certain that only when it is delivered will the world's economic recovery be achieved and a future of jobs and justice be secured. There is no greater investment than in the life of a child.”
GCE President, Kailash Satyarthi, said: “This meeting is the biggest in the campaign’s history. There remains a huge amount of work to be done in improving standards globally, this meeting will galvanise the GCE which is made up of over 100 organisations from 100 countries to push for a significant breakthrough in coming years.”
President of Solidarité Laïque, Dominique Thys, said: “The issue of education quality and the education system’s quality depend on the latter not being overshadowed. How can we not be revolted by the fact that 72 million young people are out of school, 780 million adults are still illiterate, while the world has never been so rich.”