Investing in early education is one of the best investments a country can make.
This is what GPE Board Chair Julia Gillard said yesterday in Beijing during China’s 4th international conference on early childhood development and poverty reduction.
In her keynote address, she stressed the importance of investing in high quality early childhood education, which can help close the education and poverty gap.
Julia Gillard highlighted the work of the Global Partnership to support early childhood interventions in countries like Moldova, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Mongolia, investing more than $80 million overall in interventions to support early childhood education in partner countries.
She also praised China for its efforts to promote girls’ education and expand access to programs of early childhood development.
“2015 is the year of decision for global education” she said, noting that the time has come for the world to work together and scale-up action to achieve the global goal for education.
In conclusion, she emphasized the need for more resources, research, and innovation in education, and urged world leaders to step up their efforts to ensure that every child can get a quality education by 2030.