President Macron spoke about education at the 2018 UN General Assembly.

Here is a translation of what he said:

"We’ve honored the pledge the President of Senegal and I made right here last year; the Global Partnership for Education’s Financing Conference in Dakar in February raised $2.5 billion to improve access to education in the world. It’s a historic sum. France increased its contribution tenfold. The active efforts the G7 has already begun to make under Canada’s presidency will have to allow further progress.

We are at a watershed on this issue, during which we’ll be able to grasp the full extent of the challenge facing us, or not. Six hundred and twenty million more children in the world will need to be provided with schooling between now and 2030, including 444 million Africans. Are we going to give ourselves the resources for this? Are we going to give them all the resources for a solid grounding, enabling them to take control of their lives, fraternal lives in tomorrow’s world? If we don’t, what kind of world are we setting up for ourselves?

This is why I have committed France to this battle to such an extent, it’s why I place so much emphasis on teacher training, vocational education and educational equality between boys and girls. This is why I call on you all to become part of this global drive for education. Education and health won’t just be the pillars of our societies in the 21st century; they will be the basic components of our economies too."