Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on the Day of the African Child

As we speak, millions of crisis-affected girls and boys across the African continent are being denied their human right to a quality education. In the absence of financial means to provide a quality education, or still suffering the brunt of protracted conflicts, Africa’s children do not enjoy the same rights as the rest of us. As an immediate consequence, girls are forced into child marriage, boys are recruited into armed groups, millions of children are hungry, and millions more are illiterate. Few of them have any means to move beyond such an existence without receiving an inclusive and continuous quality education.

As we commemorate the Day of the African Child under this year’s theme of “Education for all children in Africa: The time is now”, we need to follow the lead of the African Union and the African people in receiving their long-awaited right to a quality education across the continent. Long delayed and overdue, the time to empower an Africa fit for the 21st century is now.

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