The International Seminar on Girls’ and Women’s Education brought together some 40 participants from 14 countries in Asia and Africa to share experiences and explore common solutions. It marked the launch of two projects under the UNESCO-HNA Funds-in-Trust for the support of seven countries in Asia and Africa, to accelerate progress towards gender equality in education, with a focus on teacher training, professional development and advocacy. 

“Educating girls allows women to lead,” said the Director-General. “Building women's leadership starts on the benches of schools through providing safe conditions, gender sensitive curricula, gender training for teachers and meaningful role models.”

She thanked Professor Peng for being a dedicated and passionate advocate for girls’ education and women’s empowerment, and expressed appreciation for the strong cooperation with China to advance education globally. 

Recalling that she is herself a teacher, Professor Peng said that teachers and education are held in high regard in the Chinese tradition.

“For students, a good teacher guides, motivates and inspires. Female teachers are most important because they can serve as role models to advance gender equality and women's education,” said Professor Peng. ‎

“Teachers are game-changers,” affirmed the Director-General, calling all participants present who work at the grassroots the true heroes of education.

“We must strengthen recruitment and training, harness the power of new technologies.‎”

She said the transformation power of education is embodied in China’s leadership as a Champion Country of the UN Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative and its support to UNESCO to enhance teacher training in eight countries of sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in the partnership with the HNA Group.

Calling on everyone to work together to enhance the professionalism of teachers in the post-2015 agenda, Professor Peng stressed the importance of learning from one another, creating a sound atmosphere in school that promotes mutual respect, tolerance and open-mindedness, and cultivating student character through arts education and cross-cultural communications. 

Teachers and educators from Cambodia, Ghana and Uganda took the floor as representatives of all participants. They said the seminar had drawn them around a common goal, allowed for experience sharing and inspired them to continue their work to promote girl's education. They asserted that the Funds in Trust, both with HNA and the Chinese government stood as an exemplary model of South-South cooperation and called for bringing other countries on board and holding similar seminars in other countries. 

The international seminar was organized ‎with the UNESCO National Commission for UNESCO, Beijing Normal University and INRULED, a UNESCO Category 2 centre dedicated to rural education. It was chaired by Mr Hao Ping, Vice-Minister of Education and President of the UNESCO General Conference.

The seminar is the first activity implemented as part of the UNESCO-HNA Group Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education, which was formed in February 2014. It was organized concurrently with the study tour of the UNESCO-China Funds-in-Trust (CFIT) Project “Harnessing Technology for Quality Teacher Training in Africa.”