Â鶹APP

He started his adult life as a high school teacher. So it was fitting that Desmond Tutu Â鶹APP“ legendary anti-apartheid activist, social rights campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize winner Â鶹APP“ should help the break through the six million signatures mark.

He added his name to the growing list of people across the globe who are demanding that world leaders keep their promise to get every child into school.

Desmond Tutu with A World at SchoolÂ鶹APP™s Ben Hewitt

Archbishop Tutu signed the petition today in Cape Town, South Africa, as he attended the World Economic Forum on Africa. He wrote: Â鶹APPœGod bless you, Desmond Tutu, 5.6.2015, Cape Town.Â鶹APP�

He is the third Nobel Peace Prize winner to sign #UpForSchool Â鶹APP“ the others are last yearÂ鶹APP™s joint winners and .

Desmond TutuÂ鶹APP™s signed #UpForSchool poster

A World at SchoolÂ鶹APP™s Campaigns Director Ben Hewitt said: Â鶹APPœGetting a hugely influential figure like Desmond Tutu to sign the petition gives a massive boost to all the people around the world who are calling for urgent action to get every boy and girl into school.

Â鶹APPœWith the support of people like him, we are able to take the #UpForSchool message even further Â鶹APP“ from village to town to city and from country to country, everyone coming behind this childrenÂ鶹APP™s rights movement and transforming the futures of millions of young people.Â鶹APP�

A student sits at a Tutudesk, with Thandi Tutu-Gxashe

Archbishop Tutu is a passionate supporter of education. He once said: Â鶹APPœUniversal education is not only a moral imperative but an economic necessity, to pave the way toward making many more nations self-sufficient and self-sustaining.Â鶹APP�

He launched the , which aims to provide 20 million mobile desks to children in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020. The region has a shortage of 95 million school desks.

Thandi Tutu-Gxashe signs the #UpForSchool Petition

Archbishop Tutu signed the #UpForSchool Petition after conducting Friday morning service at St GeorgeÂ鶹APP™s Cathedral in Cape Town. It was a fitting setting Â鶹APP“ as millions of signatures have been collected by faith networks such as , and the .

His daughter Thandi Tutu-Gxashe also added her name and talked about the need for children to have a quality education.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka with UN education envoy Gordon Brown

Ben said: Â鶹APPœShe kindly offered to share the petition through their network of schools and other groups in South Africa. #UpForSchool is now being recognised as a global movement of people calling for education for every child Â鶹APP“ and world leaders are starting to take note.Â鶹APP�

Another prominent South African activist who signed the #UpForSchool Petition today was Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. The countryÂ鶹APP™s deputy president from 2005 to 2008, she is now United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of .

Global Youth Ambassadors are spreading #UpForSchool message

At the World Economic Forum on Africa, she emphasised the need for education and skills if African growth is to be led by industry. She said more needs to be done to advance issues such as girlsÂ鶹APP™ education, unwanted pregnancy and early marriages to get significant numbers of women into the mainstream economy.

The #UpForSchool Petition is a youth-led drive to ensure world leaders hear the voices of ordinary people in every country. A World at SchoolÂ鶹APP™s are working tirelessly in their communities to get signatures and our GYAs in South Africa will be holding an #UpForSchool event in the coming weeks.

You can make your voice heard too Â鶹APP“

on the #UpForSchool message being delivered to the World Economic Forum on Africa.