Make Education Financing Priority It Must Be to Ensure No Child or Young Person Left Behind, Deputy Secretary-General Urges Futures Festival Event

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the Futures Festival — Raise Your Hand:  a youth-led livestream on education financing — today:

I am thrilled to see young people leading the way on education financing, just as you are doing on climate change, gender equality, health and so many other critical challenges.

Education is both a fundamental human right and an investment in a better world.  Yet, we know that education is severely underfunded worldwide, and that very often, it fails to provide young people with the foundation of skills and knowledge needed to thrive in the twenty-first century economy.

The United Nations development system is fully behind global efforts to ensure access to quality education for all — the fourth of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  The upcoming Global Education Summit, co-hosted by the United Kingdom and Kenya, is an important opportunity.

Securing at least $5 billion for the Global Partnership on Education can help 175 million boys and girls to learn and lift 18 million people out of poverty.  It can also leverage even greater investment in education, which is the ultimate solution to the education financing crisis.

But education will not be funded at the scale we needed without public demand.  So, my message to you today is short and simple:  Keep pushing.  Make your voices heard.  Expand the education movement.  Engage directly with those in power.

Let’s all raise our hands so that the financing of education becomes the priority it needs to be, to ensure that no child or young person is left behind.