© Anders Thormann/2011
Anthony Lake speaks at GPE Pledging Conference in Copenhagen.

By Joan Howe

Copenhagen, 9 November 2011 – Leading donors at the first-ever Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Pledging Conference promised an initial US$1.5 billion over the next three years to put millions more children in school.

The multi-partner global partnership met on 7-8 November in Copenhagen, Denmark, where donors also pledged to increase bilateral funding to support education investment and achieve concrete results in access and quality of education. The pooled education fund aims to secure predictable funding to put 25 million more children in school over the next three years. Developing countries pledged to increase domestic funding for education by more than US$2 billion.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0985/Noorani
A young girl studies at a new government primary school in Burshasoon Village in the central Bamyan Province. Students at the school previously attended classes in a tent.

By Rudina Vojvoda

NEW YORK, USA, 4 October 2011 – As school enrolment continues to climb throughout most of the developing world, the roles teachers play in our lives have become even more crucial. Tasked with providing a quality education to our current generation of students, teachers also have a significant hand in shaping the future by instilling in children essential cultural and social values such as tolerance, gender equality and open dialogue. Despite the heavy responsibility placed on their shoulders, in many parts of the world they are rewarded poorly and in some countries even subject to deadly attacks.

© UNICEF Afghanistan/2010

By Taleen Vartan

NEW YORK, 10 August 2011 – Continuing into its fifth year, the Back on Track Programme on Education in Emergencies and Post-Crisis Transition (EEPCT) – a partnership between the Government of the Netherlands, the European Commission and UNICEF – supports countries in emergency and post-crisis transition contexts to establish sustainable progress towards quality basic education for all.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0508/ParadelaChildren wait with their families to register at the Jalala camp in Mardan district, in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province.

Last year in Afghanistan there were nearly 300 documented attacks on schools, killing 92 people and injuring 169. In Pakistan, 172 government and private schools, particularly girls’ schools, have been destroyed in the Swat Valley district since 2007.

(c) UNICEF/NYHQ20071087/Noorani
A girl reads aloud in a tent classroom at Phool-e-Rangeena Government School in the north-western city of Herat, Afghanistan.

NEW YORK, USA- Despite a deepening global economic crisis, member states were urged to increase both attention and aid to education in countries that have been hit by natural disasters or conflict.

At UN headquarters, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hilde F. Johnson (centre) moderates a panel on making education a priority in emergency and post-emergency situations. At left is UNESCO Assistant Director General for Education Nicholas Burnett.
©UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0209/Markisz

NEW YORK, USA, 18 March 2009 – The United Nations General Assembly hosted a thematic debate on education in emergencies today, with participation by representatives of Member States, academia and civil society, as well as UN experts, teachers and students.