Joyce Banda attends education summit in US: Urges world to keep girls in school

Malawi former president Joyce Banda on Tuesday attended a high level meeting on “A world at School: Global Business Coalition for Education” organized by former Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Global Leaders Forum for Education in New York, US.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly.

Brown is UN’s Special Envoy for Education.

Malawi’s former leader called for a holistic approach in addressing education especially girls’ education.

Banda argued that there is a “stubborn link” between girls’ education and maternal health, nutrition and population growth and therefore called upon global leaders to increase support in keeping girls in school longer to finish secondary and tertiary education.

In his address, Brown  said the panel discussion is to re-energise the Millennium Development Goal 2 commitment – to get every child into school by the end of 2015.

Brown said there had been great progress at first but that has stalled in the past three years.

“We now face the prospect of there still being more than 50 million – and possibly as many as 60 million – children who are not at school by end of 2015.”

Global Business Coalition for Education launched in 2012, has grown to become the single forum connecting business to make a lasting impact on the lives of children and youth through education.

Its members believe their core business assets, social responsibility and philanthropy – when used in collaboration with government and other stakeholders – can be a powerful tool to expand education for all.

Meanwhile, at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, a communiqué signed by the African first ladies has emphasised the need for development partners to increase investment in adolescent girls’ health in Africa.