On Monday, Qatar-based organizations teamed up with UNESCO to promote the UN’s Transforming Education Summit, which will be held in New York from 16 and 19 September..
UNESCO, the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), and the Education Above Have Foundation all signed the trilateral agreement (EAA).
In order to achieve SDG [Sustainable Development Goal] 4, which aims to “provide inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all,” the agreement “focuses on crucial concerns that demand global collective attention,” according to QFFD.
The latest agreement adds to key initiatives by Qatar to promote global and equal access to education.
In 2020, the UN General Assembly unanimously passed resolution 74/275 on May 28 to establish September 9 as the International Day to Protect Education from Attack.
This was an initiative proposed by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of EAA and a member of the UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocates Group.
According to EAA, more than 72 million children across the world are unschooled due to poverty and marginilisation, with 59 million of them being at primary school level and unable to receive an education.
The organisation was able to provide more than 10 million out-of-school children with access to education.
Also in 2020, EAA and QFFD agreed to provide more than 57,000 children in Somalia with basic education.
In March, EAA launched a project in Pakistan that provides mothers with cash on the condition that they enroll their children in schools. The initiative was in cooperation with the Asia Development Bank.
Through the project, the organisations will be able to enroll 960,000 children from disadvantaged communities in Pakistan into primary schools. A third of the country’s population, 22.8 million children between the ages of five and 16, are currently out of school.
In the meanwhile, EAAs have been crucial in addressing the disrupted education that Palestinians are experiencing as a result of the illegitimate Israeli occupation.
In May of last year, EAA hosted a conference titled “Students’ Voices from Gaza: Investing in their education for a brighter future” during the devastating Israeli bombing of the beleaguered Gaza Strip.
Palestinian kids had the opportunity to discuss their challenges living in an apartheid state at the event.
339 Palestinian students received scholarships from the EAA last year to attend the eight-year Al-Quds Bard College for the Arts and Sciences (AQB) in Abu Dis, Palestine.
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