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Private funds need of the hour

Former US president Bill Clinton told an education conference in Dubai that there was ‘no way’ governments and international aid alone could provide quality education for the increasing number of children growing up in developing countries.

“This is especially relevant for women and girls,” he said.

Clinton was speaking via webcast at the inaugural Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, where 500 delegates from 50 countries are discussing how public-private partnerships can solve the global demand for better education.

“It is projected that by 2050, 86 per cent of the world’s children will be living in what is now developing countries. There is no way that governments alone or international aid-flows alone will be able to provide those children with the quality of education they need to be full participants in global society.”

Public-private partnerships offered “the dedication of the public interest with Government bodies and the dedication to keeping score and getting concrete results that is a necessity in the private sector”. Global leaders needed to “re-imagine” what their responsibilities and opportunities were, Clinton said.

“We need this commitment to education everywhere and almost everywhere success will require a level of public private partnership never before achieved.”

He said the world was only just starting “what I am convinced will be a very exciting story throughout the 21^st century”.

Clinton said in the current decade, six of the world’s fastest growing economies were in Africa. “We need to help them through public-private partnerships to rapidly scale up their own human capital by educating their children. We are seeing the same thing in poor countries in South East Asia.”

Meanwhile, UAE Minister of State Reem Al Hashimy also spoke in favour of public-private partnerships on the first day of the event.

“Partnerships for us are critical. We believe in the necessity of prosperity. Countries like the UAE cannot afford to have countries fail around them.” Al Hashimy urged delegates to help move emerging economies from aid-centric to development-centric models, through PPPs.

The forum, jointly organised by Unesco, The Commonwealth Business Council, the UAE Government and GEMS Education will examine ways to create real, sustainable and scalable change to education systems at global and local levels, a press release from the forum said.

Attendees included the President of Burundi E Pierre Nkurunziza and former Nigeria President Cirino Ofuho. Tony Blair gave the keynote address on Thursday.

amanda@khaleejtimes.com