High Level Political Forum
New York
6 July 2022
Session on quality education
Intervention by Saba Gebremedhin from Network of Ethiopian Women Associations and a Malala Fund partner organization representing the Women’s Major Group
“Children in crisis situations have been out of school for many years, with girls most severely addicted. This increases opportunities for early marriage and gender-based violence that further limit their access to education. Many families take girls out of school and marry them off as a means to overcome extreme poverty and shocks. We have also witnessed a rollback towards traditional stereotypes and gender roles.”
Intervention by Dr. Madeleine Zúñiga from la Campaña Mundial por la Educación, representing the Education & Academia Stakeholder Group
“The ongoing pandemic has caused major disruption to education processes around the world, with an insurmountable scale of loss of schooling for children and young people in basic, tertiary and higher education, leaving millions of diverse groups of learners out of non-formal education processes, many not to return. The individual, social and economic consequences are dramatic, and some of them remain to be seen. A recent report published by the World Bank, UNESCO and UNICEF (2021) states that this generation of learners is losing $17 trillion in lifetime earnings in present value, or about 14 per cent of current global GDP, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Photo credit: IISD ENB – Kiara Worth
