Campaigners urge president Zuma to rescue world cup education summit
JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, May 28, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The 1GOAL campaign today called on President Jacob Zuma to intervene in negotiations ahead of the planned Education Summit on the eve of the World Cup, amid growing concerns that a global breakthrough on education is under threat.
Campaigners are worried that the plans for the summit of heads of state, announced by President Zuma in March, have become mired in UN bureaucracy and logistical concerns. Invitations to key world leaders have yet to be confirmed and detailed plans for the Summit remain unclear. Meanwhile a decision by authorities not to allow a peaceful public rally on June 10th in support of 1GOAL has caused widespread dismay.
The Summit is currently due to be held hours before the first game of the World Cup Finals on Friday 11th June 2010, which is expected to be attended by Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, as well as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. A further thirty Heads of State from around the world including President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi and President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria are also set to attend. British Prime Minister David Cameron and other world leaders are thought to be actively considering their attendance.
The 1GOAL campaign, supported by over 8 million people and running in over 100 countries around the world, call on President Zuma to ensure that his strong leadership is followed by an historic agreement to ensure millions more children can go to school.
1GOAL adviser and former head of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, John Samuel, said: “As South Africans we can be proud that millions more children around the world could have the chance to go to school as a legacy of this World Cup. President Zuma has rallied the global community behind his vision of education for all and the great opportunity of this moment. We ask him now to take every necessary step to ensure that the Education Summit lives up to his vision and that the planned public rally is allowed to go ahead.”
In what would be the first ever political summit held around a sporting event, the Summit is set to offer governments the chance to end poverty by providing education for the 72 million children worldwide who are out of school.
1GOAL is calling on donor countries to meet to discuss a roadmap for investing in the world’s children so that every child on earth gets an education. An estimated US$16 billion a year is needed to make universal education a reality, but currently only US$4 billion is spent on primary education. At the key summits in 2010, 1GOAL is calling for a compact between rich donor countries to follow through on their commitments on basic education and for developing countries to commit at least 20% of their national budget for schooling.
1GOAL seeks to get every child into school before the next FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014, rallying support from footballers and fans across the world. The campaign is backed by the footballing world and FIFA and a host of stars including Lucas Radebe, Aaaron Mokoena, Zinedine Zidane and Pele. Since the 1998 World Cup held in France, new international aid has helped 40 million children to go to school.
1GOAL is calling on people to add their name to the campaign at any time by signing up through its website (www.join1goal.org), twitter (@join1goal) or facebook sites. Thanks to MTN, people in South Africa can also sign up by sending a free SMS with the word ‘yes’ to 30571.
SOURCE
The 1GOAL campaign
