Norway is hosting a global summit on education for development on 6–7 July. The aim of the summit is to boost global efforts in the field of education, with a view to reaching the UN’s new set of development goals. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to attend the summit. Among those invited are heads of government and ministers from 40 countries, heads of international organisations and respected international advocates for the right to education. Around 400 key actors will attend the Oslo Summit on Education for Development. Participants include Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the prime ministers of Haiti, Niger and Pakistan, the foreign ministers of Niger and Palestine, and the education ministers of around 10 countries. In addition to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, leaders of UNHCR, UNICEF, UNFPA and the ILO will take part in the Summit, as well as UN Special Envoy for Global Education and co-host of the Summit Gordon Brown. Graça Machel from the UN MDG Advocacy Group will also attend, as will Julia Gillard, chair of the board of the Global Partnership for Education, and representatives of the private sector, including Telenor and the Minecraft in Education initiative. The secretary generals of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children Norway and other civil society organisations will be at the Summit, as will representatives of the World Bank, the African Union, and the African Development Bank. Two important Pakistani personalities are set to make an appearance; the Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, and the Nobel Peace Prize winner and youth activist, Malala Yousufzai. At the summit, Malala is expected to urge world leaders to live up to their international commitments towards education; guaranteeing twelve years of universal fee-free primary and secondary education. As the Prime Minister is about to leave, reports on the operation and efficacy of another highly touted educational enterprise – the so called Kerry-Luger-Bresnen agreement – have also emerged. Since 2009, despite the provision of billions of dollars worth of aid to government departments, NGOs and schools, education has seen mixed growth. Local and foreign scholarship plans bloom yet establishing quality schools still remains a challenge; showing that pure money – even $7.5 billion – is not enough on its own. The usual suspects claim the disruption; bureaucratic red tape, petty embezzlement, administrative lethargy and institutional clash have caused immeasurable delay. Despite the bill being approved in 2009, the first school under it was not built till 2014, yet the Metro projects steam forward a lightning speed. The difference in performance is not down to funds or ability; it is because education is a lost narrative.
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