UNESCO chief lauds China's effort in supporting education in Africa

UNITED NATIONS -- China has been making great efforts in supporting the education system in Africa, a senior UN official said in New York on Wednesday.

China is giving money to help support Africa's education system, Irina Bokova, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"I would say that I don't see any area where we don't have a very developed support from China and cooperation," she said.

China has placed money in a trust designated for improving education in Africa, Bokova said, adding that the trust will pay for teacher training on the continent.

She also recalled her meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong last week at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

"I was very happy that the deputy prime minister also reconfirmed the support for UNESCO, which extended this project beyond 2015 so we may help these countries" in Africa, she said.

More specifically, "UNESCO works in the least developed countries in Africa," she said, adding that the Chinese government's support makes another record for access to quality education for African children.

"I can say we have a very special relationship with China," Bokova lauded.

Bokova made the interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly.

She was here to attend a meeting on the Global Education First Initiative (GEFI), launched in 2012 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to accelerate progress towards the education for all.

The UNESCO chief urged the international community to make one last push for the 58 million children globally who don't have access to education as the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) quickly approaches.

"I believe we have to make a last effort towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals," a set of eight anti-poverty targets to be reached by 2015, she said.

Bokova, who has been in her role since 2009 and spent time working on educational and cultural initiatives across the globe, said her focus right now is on the 58 million children who are out of school.

"If you look at the figures at the beginning of the 1990s, there were more than 100 million children out of school," she said. "So, the 58 million figure is a decrease."

"But if you look at the children out of school, you will see that the majority of those 58 million (children) are girls," she said.

The population of uneducated girls primarily live in poor and rural communities within the continent of Africa. To reach these young women, the senior official has created a targeted approach.

In Chad, the Central African Republic and Niger, young girls are the most marginalized population in the rural areas.

"(Girls) don't go to school because of poverty, because of distances, because of insecurity, because of stereotypes, because of the thinking," Bokova said.

"So we have to take a different targeted approach in order to get girls enrolled in school," she said, pointing to UNESCO's efforts in increasing the number of girls that register for secondary school.

The transition from primary to secondary school requires more national legislation and international aid within the region, the senior official said.

The international aid will support her immediate call for more education professionals on the continent.

"Africa needs 2 million teachers if we want to reach the Second MDG (on education) and we know that 26 billion U.S. dollars is missing," she said.

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