Colm Brophy, T.D., Minister of State for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora, today announced Ireland’s renewed commitment to the vision of a quality education for every child, pledging €60 million to the Global Partnership for Education for 2021-2025.
Through this pledge Ireland will contribute to getting 88 million more children into school, ensuring that 140 million students are taught by qualified teachers and that 175 million children receive a quality education.
Over the next five years, the Global Partnership for Education will help governments to transform education systems, implementing key reforms, to accelerate progress on inclusion, equity and learning. Reaching the most marginalised children is a priority for GPE and for Ireland. This includes children with disabilities, those from poor and vulnerable households and internally displaced and refugee children.
Minister Brophy made the pledge during a milestone event on girls’ education featuring Malala Yousafzai, Julia Gillard, GPE Board Chair and Former Prime Minister of Australia, and Maria Flachsbarth, Parliamentary State Secretary of Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
I am earmarking €10 million of Ireland’s pledge for GPE’s Girls’ Education Accelerator.
Girls’ education is essential if we are to tackle the world’s major challenges. Last year Ireland launched the Drive for Five initiative. This called for transformative actions to get all adolescent girls into school and learning in supportive, safe and healthy environments.
The Girls’ Education Accelerator can provide the extra support needed for overcoming barriers where girls are lagging furthest behind.
On Thursday, in an event hosted by the Irish Forum for Global Education, Minister Brophy will meet with second-level students from Cork Educate Together, Loreto High School Beaufort, Rathfarnham and John Scotus School, Rathmichael, to discuss their global citizenship education projects and Ireland’s support for the education globally, including the Global Partnership for Education.
I am looking forward to meeting with students who have participated in Irish Aid’s WorldWise Global Schools programme and discussing Ireland’s efforts to support children across the world, especially the most marginalised, to access quality and equitable education.
ENDS
Notes to Editor
- The Global Partnership for Education is the only education partnership and fund dedicated to achieving quality education in lower-income countries. It is seeking to raise USD 5 billion over the next five years to support its work in up to 90 lower-income countries and territories.
- In lower income countries, girls have poorer education outcomes compared with boys or with girls in higher income countries.
- In February 2020, Ireland organised a special meeting at the United Nations on how to get all adolescent girls into school and learning in supportive, safe and healthy environments and launched a global call to action – the Drive for Five.
- The Irish Forum for Global Education (IFGE) is a voluntary network of civil society actors, academics and individuals committed to promoting Sustainable Development Goal 4 - ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The Forum is aligned to the Global Campaign for Education – the global civil society movement to promote and defend education as a basic human right and a common good.
- The WorldWise Global Schools is Ireland’s national Global Citizenship Education (GCE) programme for post-primary schools. It aims to contribute to increased knowledge and understanding of global justice issues and increased engagement and action by post-primary students as active global citizens.