UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- World leaders attending the ongoing General Debate of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 74) on Thursday underlined quality education and poverty eradication.
"Ensuring access to quality education means less child labor, less exploitation, fewer child marriages. It allows for increased political engagement and entrepreneurial and economic activity," said Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde.
Speaking of the "Ethiopian Education Development Roadmap" that the country has just launched, Zewde said that the roadmap focuses on out-of-school children. "Many of these are from pastoralist or disadvantaged areas, groups with special needs, or the physically disabled."
"The roadmap provides for strengthening alternative modes of delivery. It focuses on girls, as they are still less likely to complete primary education, and on quality, addressing the barriers to education in the classroom or at home," said the president.
As to poverty, Zewde noted that Ethiopia's main aspiration is to "move our people out of poverty."
"We are striving to provide a dignified life for all our citizens. The central element of our vision for sustainable development includes building infrastructure and harnessing our national resources," the president said.
"The grim reality, however, is that today nearly 65 million Ethiopians do not have access to electricity. And, the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile is merely to generate hydro-electric power to offer our people an opportunity, at least, to have supper with a light-on," Zewde said.
The General Debate of UNGA 74 opened Tuesday at the UN headquarters in New York with the theme of "Galvanizing multilateral efforts for poverty eradication, quality education, climate action and inclusion."
