HH Sheikha Moza meets Education Ministers to accelerate access to quality primary education

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson and Founder of the Education Above All Foundation, today welcomed Education Ministers and high-level officials from 16 countries, to a meeting in Doha, aiming to accelerate access to quality primary education for millions of children.

The purpose of the meeting was for Ministers and high-ranking education officials to discuss the barriers they face in their respective countries in enabling all children to access quality primary education, and to learn how Education Above All can help address them.

Senior Qatari officials attending included HE Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry, HE Dr. Mohammed Abdel Wahed Ali Al Hammadi, Minister of Education and Higher Education, Her Excellency Sheikha Hind Bint Hamad Al-Thani, Vice Chair of the Supreme Education Council, as well as senior representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Her Excellency Julia Gillard, Chair of the Global Partnership for Education and His Excellency Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Al Meraikhi, Director of International Development Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State of Qatar provided keynote speeches to open the meeting.

The meeting was convened by Educate A Child (EAC), a global programme of the Education Above All Foundation, launched by Her Highness in November 2012, which aims to trigger significant breakthroughs in providing quality primary education to the 57 million children who currently have no access to schooling.

Countries in attendance included Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Zanzibar and Yemen.

“We hope to identify how EAC and its partners can contribute to overcoming these obstacles and to set realistic and achievable timelines and clear goals for all countries involved”, said Her Highness in a Ministerial session. “We hope that with this meeting, more countries and partners will join us soon.”

In total, the countries participating in the meeting represent nearly one-third (31%) of the children who are not enrolled in primary education.

Ministers were invited to the meeting based on their countries being identified as priority for expansion of Educate A Child co-funded programmes. Currently, Educate A Child operates 44 programmes in 24 countries, but aims to expand this following the High-Level Meeting. In less than 18 months since its launch, is providing access to nearly 2 million children, with a goal of 10 million by the end of the 2015/2016 academic year.