What is the Education Commission and which world leaders are on it?
Education funding
The Education Commission meets in Washington, DC, in April
Five former prime ministers and presidents and three Nobel Prize winners are among the 20 world leaders who sit on the Education Commission.
Officially known as International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity, it is holding its final formal meeting in Oslo today before presenting its findings to the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Launched in September last year, its remit is to examine how to reverse the lack of financing for education around the world, which has left 124 million young people out of school and hundreds of millions without quality learning opportunities.
The commission is supported by the government of Norway and Prime Minister Erna Solberg and is chaired by Gordon Brown, the former British Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy for Global Education.
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The commission has been exploring how – over the next 15 to 20 years – education could lead to greater economic growth, better health outcomes and improved global security.
It has been co-convened by Prime Minister Solberg alongside President Michelle Bachelet of Chile, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, President Peter Mutharika of Malawi and the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova.
The commission launched a youth video challenge
Four of A World at School’s Global Youth Ambassadors were named among 16 young activists serving on the Youth Panel of the commission.
They have been representing the voices of young people and contributing to the final report. Read a blog by GYA Benedict Joson about the youth panel’s work.
The commission includes the following leaders:
Anant Agarwal, CEO, EdX
José Manuel Barroso, former President, European Commission
Felipe Calderón, former President, Mexico
Kristin Clemet, Managing Director, Civita, former Minister of Education and Research, former Minister of Labour and Government Administration, Norway
Aliko Dangote, CEO, Dangote Group
Julia Gillard, Chair, Global Partnership for Education and former Prime Minister, Australia
Baela Raza Jamil, Adviser/Trustee, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA)
Lee Ju-ho, former Korean Minister of Education
Jim Kim, President, World Bank Group
Yuriko Koike, Member of the House of Representatives, Former Minister of Defence, Japan
Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF
Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group
Graça Machel, Founder, Graça Machel Trust
Strive Masiyiwa, CEO, Econet Wireless
Teopista Birungi Mayanja, Founder, Uganda National Teachers Union
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Minister of Finance, Nigeria
Kailash Satyarthi, Founder, Bachpan Bachao Andolan
Amartya Sen, Professor, Harvard University
Theo Sowa, CEO, African Women’s Development Fund
Lawrence Summers, President Emeritus, Harvard University; 71st Secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton and Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former Prime Minister, Denmark
The Nobel Prize winners on the commission are Mr Satyarthi, Mr Sen and Mr Barroso. Mr Dangote and Mr Masiyiwa are also founding members of the Global Business Coalition for Education.
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