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Throughout a distinguished career in public office, which included 2½ years as Federal Minister of Education, Julia Gillard has been a passionate and effective champion for education. In her new role with the Global Partnership for Education, she will advocate to get children in some of the world’s poorest countries in to school.
“I believe that with 57 million of the world’s children still lacking access to a basic education and 250 million children unable to read, write or master simple math, there can be no higher priority,” said Ms Gillard.
“I am also alarmed about the recent sharp decline in donor support to education that threatens the progress achieved over the past decade, particularly for girls’ education.”
“The international community has an historic opportunity right now to build on the momentum we’ve seen in global education over the last decade, and to tackle obstacles that impede countries’ ability to deliver a quality basic education to all of their young people,” she said.
Just a month after leaving public office in September 2013, Julia Gillard was named Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Center for Universal Education by the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Her new position with the GPE puts Ms Gillard in the unique position to address the main challenges in providing a basic education to children living in the developing world.
“GPE has a proven track record of support and has delivered results in the world’s poorest and most fragile countries,” said Ms Gillard. “It is an honor to accept the role of Board Chair for the Global Partnership for Education. There is much to do and little time.”
If you would like to know more read Julia Gillard’s blog post “My Passion for Education” published on the GPE website.