Global Education Week (Guest Blog)

Guest Blogger: Victoria Suarez-Palomo
(Note: This essay may or may not reflect the views of this blog's owner, Andrew Pass.)

Nearly 80 million children from poor countries lack access to a quality basic education. Another 150 million will drop out before they even finish elementary school.

Despite the need for basic education, significant barriers exist--school fees, child labor, poor school quality, health crises such as HIV/AIDS, discrimination, and conflict. The problems are most acute in South/West Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa where 75 percent of the world’s out-of-school children reside. In fact, less than half of all African girls will complete a primary education.

Education - particularly for girls - can prevent the spread of AIDS, reduce child mortality, and help break the cycle of poverty. As the 2006 US Global Campaign for Education’s Honorary Chair Angelina Jolie has stated, “education is a human right and a foundation for a better life.”

The world has come together twice to affirm the notion that education is a human right. In both the 2000 World Economic Forum and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals countries pledged their commitments to achieve universal primary education by 2015.

We have now arrived at the half way mark to 2015 and progress is being made—47 out of 163 countries have achieved universal primary education and 20 more countries are on track for 2015. However, 23 countries, the overwhelming majority of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, are showing declining enrollment rates.
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There is much work to be done. Donor countries must live up to their commitments, starting here at home. Out of the 22 rich countries the United States is currently ranked 20th for its level of funding for basic education. The U.S.’s pledge is just one third as much as Great Britain’s—even though the U.S. economy is six times larger.

On April 23rd to the 29th, the U.S. Chapter of the Global Campaign for Education will bring youth activists from around the United States and the world to lobby policy makers in Washington D.C. about the need for education for all. We cannot continue to wait to provide the adequate resources so that all children have access to a basic education.

You can help support the right of every child to a free, quality education by clicking here and taking part in the Global Campaign for Education’s (GCE) Action Week.



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