High-profile Indians give their support to #UpForSchool campaign

Up for School or #upforschool campaign

14 May 2015

Lord Paul holds #UpForSchool poster at the Delhi event

One of A World at School’s Global Youth Ambassadors has asked businesses in India to stand #UpForSchool and to help improve education for girls.

Akhil Bhardwaj made his plea at a roundtable of leading businesses, multinationals and schools representatives in New Delhi. Other speakers included Lord Paul, founder of the Caparo Group, and Pooran Pandey, Executive Director of Global Compact Network India.

Global Youth Ambassador Akhil Bhardwaj speaks at the event

The #UpForSchool Petition has also been backed by Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley – who signed one of our special “Dear world leader” postcards – and Bollywood star and philanthropist Priyanka Chopra, when she met Gordon Brown, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education.

Akhil and Lord Paul urged business leaders to sign the petition, which calls on world leaders to deliver on the promise of universal education. Delhi has already seen more than 10,000 young people march in support of the #UpForSchool campaign.

Pooja Bhatt, Principal, Accenture, and Co-Chair, GBC-Education India Working Group

The event – The Future of India Inc.: Skilling the Next Generation – was hosted by the Global Business Coalition for Education India Working Group and organised in collaboration with the Global Compact Network India.

Akhil talked about the root causes of school dropouts, including children moving into work to help their families financially. He said poor interaction with teachers was a major reason why families from uneducated backgrounds often failed to understand the importance of schooling.

Lord Paul with Shweta Khurana, Head of K-12 Education at Intel South Asia

Lord Paul talked about the importance of the #UpForSchool campaign in achieving education for all children. Attendees were asked to urge their employees to increase #UpForSchool’s visibility in the coming months.

Read more about the roundtable event on the Global Business Coalition for Education website.

Lord Paul later tweeted that he had added his name to the petition.

I’ve signed the #UpForSchool petition. You can too! Join the movement to get all children into school & learning: http://t.co/UkjQeAKOn7
— Lord Swraj Paul (@RtHonLordPaulPC) May 1, 2015

Finance minister Mr Jaitley signed one of our special postcards which were sent to world leaders, asking for their support for the #UpForSchool campaign.

Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley making a speech in London

He also wrote to A World at School co-founder Sarah Brown, telling her the petition was “laudable in its noble objective to assist out-of-school children gain their right to education”.

#UpForSchool postcard signed by Mr Jaitley

He added: “I join this initiative and wish that this movement grows in leaps and bounds and is able to break the shackles that prevent children from attending school, eradicate the evils of child labour, early marriages, exploitation and discrimination.”

Gordon Brown met Priyanka Chopra (pictured above) at an event in Boston in the United States, where she signed the petition. Students at Hult International Business School had the chance to meet them, as well as former US President Bill Clinton, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Julia Gillard, former Australian prime minister and now Chair of the Global Partnership for Education.

Priyanka Chopra signs #UpForSchool