Chloe joins with Gary and Danielle Lineker to support education for all children worldwide

Chloe Smith today joined with Gary and Danielle Lineker at the Houses of Parliament to show support for the 1 GOAL campaign. Gary Lineker is an Ambassador for 1GOAL, an initiative which aims to mobilise support for education for all through the power of football.

During the World Cup Danielle Lineker joined 1GOAL on an education trip to Khayleitsha, one of the fastest growing townships in South Africa, where opportunities for children are very limited.

The parliamentary event was held to highlight the global education crisis at this critical time. Next week in New York (20 – 22 September) world leaders will be meeting to review progress on the UN Millennium Goals; 2 of the 8 goals involve tackling poverty by ensuring that all boys and girls complete primary schooling by 2015. With just 5 years to go there are still 72 million children who are being denied even a basic primary education.

The Global Campaign for Education, which organises 1GOAL, states that education is not only a human right but the fastest route out of poverty and says it is vital that the UK government must stand by its existing financial commitment of £1billion per year, until 2015, to support education internationally.

Commenting on the event, Chloe Smith said:

“It is essential that we invest in the education of children. Education ultimately provides children with the best route out of poverty, giving them the power to improve their own lives and the lives of others in their community. I hope supporters of the World Cup from around the world will be inspired to sign up to the 1GOAL campaign, and that leaders around the world take this momentum forward to help reach the education MDGs.”

Gary Lineker said: “Delivering education for the 72 million children that are currently denied access to education is an achievable dream. We know that the world has the resources to deliver it. Now it’s time for world leaders to make it happen – for rich countries to deliver the funding needed, and for governments of developing countries to ensure that education is the top priority in their country.”

The Secretary of State for International Development, the Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, also attended the event.