HH Sheikha Moza address global education leaders in Paris

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser today called on global education leaders to step up their action to provide access to quality education for the world’s hardest-to-reach children.

Her Highness was the keynote speaker at the Global Education For All (EFA) meeting at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. This ministerial-level meeting seeks to drive forward progress towards reaching the EFA goals of providing universal access to education.

“Humanity will not overcome the immense challenges we face unless we ensure that children get the quality education that equips them to play their part in the modern world”, she said.

Highlighting current situations in Gaza and Syria, Her Highness stated that the challenges facing education are immense: “Events happening right now in my region clearly show that the right to education is still endangered. Just look at the situation of students in the Gaza Strip, in Syria and in similar conflict areas. Education is not being protected from the wider issues affecting a country or a society.”

Her Highness urged leaders to build on the momentum generated by recent initiatives including Education First, launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September, and Educate A Child, launched by Sheikha Moza on 14 November.

“Over the last few months we have discovered a new energy. Today, I call on you to make use of t

his energy. I count on you to increase your efforts to meet our commitments. I urge you to use the discussion over the coming days to focus on accelerated actions that will enable us to meet our goals.”

In order to build on this momentum, Her Highness Sheikha Moza proposed to support EFA by hosting a meeting in Doha in April 2013: “I invite you to share progress, to come with specific plans and to show the outcomes of today’s important meeting. I invite you to demonstrate that we are living up to our promise in concrete and practical ways.”