African and World Leaders Call for Public Private Partnerships to Help Educate Children in Africa

DUBAI, UAE, March 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Speaking 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, President Clinton said:

"In this decade six of the world's fastest growing economies are in Africa. In the following decade, seven of the fastest growing economies of the world will be in Africa. We need to help them through public private partnerships to rapidly scale up their own human capital by educating their children."

H.E Maria Kiwanuka, Ugandan Minister for Finance, Planning and Economic Development said:

"The private sector can provide the link to the marketplace where you find there is a revolving door. The link between Government, the private sector and academia is important. We need to have this constant cross-fertilisation between the three of us. The private sector in Uganda has brought a certain agility and ability to respond to the environment.

"Due to the private sector you find that many schools in rural areas, especially at the primary level, are within walking distance. The private sector has enabled communities to be more involved."

Patrick Dlamini, the CEO of the Development Bank of South Africa, said:

"How do we enable African Governments to create the requisite capacity in their respective countries to move their economies forward? We know the limitations that exist; the chronic shortage of quality teachers available as well as the endemic issues of people living in rural areas not having access to quality education. This can only be solved if the private sector, the Government and civil society come together and come up with innovative solutions that will help bridge the gap. Otherwise it will take us forever to try and create the requisite capacity in terms of school infrastructure and teacher capacity to get to the right level before we can then say we're ready to take the continent forward.

"The private sector can come in to help us build capacity and leverage technology to help us deal with the shortage of teachers and have access to quality education. There are examples all over the world already where the private sector has proven that they can make a big difference."

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For more information, please contact:
Margaret Flanagan / Rebecca Sageman
ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller
Tel: +971-4-4507-600
Email: margaret.flanagan@bm.com / rebecca.sageman@bm.com