The United Nations will not meet its goal of ensuring that every child in the world has a primary school education by 2015, but the plan is still on the “right path”, the first lady of Qatar has said.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al-Missned, a special envoy for UNESCO, said it would be impossible to resolve the “staggering” problem by the 2015 target date.
“But it doesn’t matter,” she said. “The most important thing is to make sure that everyone is on the right track… and I think today we are on the right path.”
Sheikha Mozah will this week join UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the launch of his new Education First initiative, announcing new commitments to a campaign aimed at providing education to 61m children around the world who are not in school.
Several heads of state including South African President Jacob Zuma and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard will also attend. Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, UNICEF Eminent Advocate for Children, will also speak at the event.
Qatar’s first lady, who will play a leading role in the new campaign, said she aims to draw particular attention to the 28m children living in areas of conflict. “The majority of them are living in our region – Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Palestine,” she told Associated Press.
Sheikha Mozah, who chairs the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, will launch the first handbook summarising international laws that protest education during conflict. She said she hopes the book will “ensure that those who violated the laws related to protection of education can be brought to justice” and be used as “a preventive tool.”
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