The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948 states: "Everyone has the right to education [and] education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages." But today, over 72 million children in the world's poorest countries do not attend school, more than half of them girls. Although there has been progress in getting children into school, universal primary completion remains low. Approximately one billion people have had less than four years of schooling and two-thirds of these people are women and girls. All school-age children must start school this year if we are to meet the world's commitment of universal primary completion by 2015.
Many countries with low enrolment rates are also those hardest hit by AIDS. In fact, the HIV epidemic itself is devastating struggling school systems-killing teachers and administrators, increasing absenteeism, and lowering productivity, all of which increase costs and undermine educational quality. Education correlates directly to safer behavior and reduced infection rates, and experts agree that education ranks among the most effective-and cost-effective-means of HIV prevention. The Global Campaign for Education estimates that if all children completed primary school, as many as 700,000 cases of HIV could be prevented each year.
This fall as we loaded our kids onto school busses across the U.S., we think of the 72 million children who are not in school around the world. As we take our children to get their physicals to play sports and their vaccinations, we are reminded of the infants born to illiterate mothers who never see their 5th birthday because of HIV infection, tuberculosis, malaria, and not enough access to food and clean water. Access to education would improve the lives of these children.
We can change that. The Education for All Act would position education as a priority for U.S. foreign policy and commits the U.S. to achieving quality universal basic education. The bill places particular emphasis on girls, orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS, children in rural areas, religious and ethnic minorities, disabled children, child laborers, and victims of violence and trafficking. Education has a critical role in international development and diplomacy at large. By ensuring that more children can experience a stable education like ours in the U.S., we would be taking steps toward creating a better future for all future generations.
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It will walk you through a few steps (5 mins) that will email a letter to the editor to all your local newspapers
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