Former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has signed a letter to the international community in a call for urgent action to address the global education emergency triggered by COVID-19.

Dr Gonzi, a senior consultant to the Managing Partner at Gonzi & Associates Advocates, shared “I am proud to have joined a group of 283 global leaders, former prime ministers and experts who accepted Gordon Brown’s invitation to sign a letter that asks the G20, the IMF and the World Bank to recognize the need to take action because of the crisis in global education triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The letter asks for Governments to protect front line education spending and the International Community to increase financial aid for education focusing on children in conflict, children with disabilities, girls and the poor.

It also calls on the International Monetary Fund to issue $1.2 trillion in Special Drawing Rights where its Membership decide which countries should be prioritised, and the World Bank to release more financial support for low-income countries.

The open letter highlights that, with more than one billion children still out of school due to lockdown to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, “there is a real and present danger that the public-health crisis will create a COVID generation who loses out on schooling and whose opportunities are permanently damaged.”

While some children have had access to alternatives, the world’s poorest children have been locked out of learning and denied Internet access, the letter stated.

Dr Gonzi joined former President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, former UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who are among the signatories.

Read the full letter here