Liam BYRNE
(modtaget 12/8-20)
LETTER TO G20, IMF, WORLD BANK, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS and NATIONAL
GOVERNMENTS
My dear colleagues,
I write to ask if you would like to join me and 120 prime ministers, presidents, former leaders,
economists, policy makers and leaders of NGO’s in signing this joint letter to the G20, the IMF, the
World Bank, Regional Development Banks and National Governments.
The letter asks for concrete measures to address the global education emergency triggered by Covid-
19. With over 1 billion children still out of school because of the lockdown, there is now a real and
present danger that the public health crisis will create a COVID generation who lose out on schooling
and whose opportunities are permanently damaged.
You can sign the letter by clicking here, and filling in your
name:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SJQQ2ST
With apologies for the tight deadline, I would be grateful for replies by 9AM British Summer Time, on
SUNDAY 16TH August. The letter will be published on Monday 17th August.
Best wishes,
The Rt Hon. Liam Byrne MP , United Kingdom
Chair of the Parliamentary Network
on the World Bank and IMF
LETTER TO G20, IMF, WORLD BANK, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS and NATIONAL
GOVERNMENTS
We write to call for urgent action to address the global education emergency triggered by Covid-19.
With over 1 billion children still out of school because of the lockdown, there is now a real and present
danger that the public health crisis will create a COVID generation who lose out on schooling and
whose opportunities are permanently damaged. While the more fortunate have had access to
alternatives,
the world’s poorest children have been locked out of learning, denied
internet access,
and with the loss of free school meals - once a lifeline for 300 million boys and girls
–hunger
has grown.
An immediate concern, as we bring the lockdown to an end, is the fate of an estimated 30 million
children who, according to UNESCO, may never return to school.. For these,
the world’s least
advantaged children, education is often the only escape from poverty- a route that is in danger of
closing
Many of these children are adolescent girls for whom being in school is the best defence against forced
marriage and the best hope for a life of expanded opportunity. Many more are young children who risk
being forced into exploitative and dangerous labour. And because education is linked to progress in
virtually every area of human development
–
from child survival to maternal health, gender equality ,
job creation and inclusive economic growth
–
the education emergency will undermine the prospects for
achieving all our 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and potentially set back progress on gender
equity by years According to the World Bank the long-term economic cost of lost schooling could be
as much as $10 trillion in lost productive output.