Kenya and the United Kingdom will co-host a two-day conference on global partnership for education financing on July 25 and 26, President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced.

The President said the agenda of the education financing conference is to raise 5 billion US dollars to ensure that all children, particularly those in developing countries, have equitable access to quality education.

He invited African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government to join the effort and commit to protect education budgets in their respective countries.

"You will all agree with me that our children received the harshest brunt of the (COVID-19) pandemic; the lockdowns resulted in significant loss of income of the caregivers."

"We need to show up and hold our governments accountable in setting aside the adequate resources to ensure that all children, both girls and boys and those in vulnerable situations, can go back to school and complete their studies," Mr. Kenyatta said.

The President spoke Saturday at State House, Nairobi, at the start of the two-day virtual 34th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU whose theme is "Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want".

(With input from Kenyan Presidency)