NEWS: Launch of the first global parliamentary network for education
Teacher Lim Bol from South Sudan wants to become a medical doctor
© UNHCR/Petterik Wiggers
A new international parliamentary network aiming to strengthen links between parliamentarians around the world in support of Sustainable Development Goal 4 - Quality Education - has launched today.
The International Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd) is a new initiative aiming to grow and deepen political understanding of and commitment to inclusive and equitable quality education for all.
The Network has been launched by former UK Minister for Africa and Minister for International Development, Harriett Baldwin MP, and Senator Dr Gertrude Musuruve Inimah, the nominated Senator representing Persons with Disabilities in the Kenyan Senate. The two parliamentarians are Co-Chairs of IPNEd.
In a joint article launching IPNEd, co-published in both the British and Kenyan media, Harriett Baldwin MP and Senator Dr Musuruve call on parliamentarians to redouble their efforts to deliver inclusive and equitable quality education for all:
“For Sustainable Development Goal 4, ‘Quality Education’, to be achieved, we must combine our renewed political commitment with unprecedented action across the three pillars of education financing, quality and equity”.
As the first global parliamentary network dedicated to education, IPNEd seeks to initiate the sustained mobilisation of political leadership for global education. The Network will work with individual parliamentarians along with groups of parliamentarians at the national, regional and global level to accelerate quality education for all.
The COVID-19 pandemic has given new urgency to IPNEd’s mission
The health emergency caused by COVID-19 has also created an education emergency, which risks resulting in a lost decade for progress in education.
Highlighting the impact of the pandemic on learning, the Co-Chairs added:
“In the face of the additional obstacles of the pandemic, parliamentarians must work to put pressure on Governments to come up with policies that ensure no child is left behind”.
Senator Dr Musuruve is a Senator in the Kenyan Parliament.
Harriett Baldwin MP is a member of the UK Parliament.
The Network is co-chaired by two esteemed parliamentary champions for education
Commenting on the impact of the pandemic on the education of persons with disabilities, Senator Dr Musuruve, an education and disability-rights advocate, and former school teacher, said: “In the wake of Covid-19, marginalisation of children with disabilities has intensified. Education can not wait and the good will of political leaders around the globe is necessary in effecting SDG 4”.
Welcoming the establishment of the Network, Harriett Baldwin MP, a champion for girls’ education, who led the Department for International Development’s work on global education during her time as a Minister, and now also chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Education in the UK Parliament, said: “Quality education for all is the key to unlock economic opportunity, health, climate resilience and peace”.
IPNEd’s official launch event will take place in September 2020 with the signing of IPNEd’s Declaration. The Network is open to parliamentarians who are committed to increasing the funding, access and equity of education globally.
