Education And Poverty

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to an education.” Unfortunately, education is still a distant dream for many. Nearly 113 million children are not able to attend primary school. And 264 million children who might be attending secondary schools (the equivalent of high schools) do not. Around one billion adults lack one of the most basic skills taught in schools – literacy

Also, girls are often short-changed when it comes to education in developing countries. Two-thirds of illiterate adults are women. In some countries, traditional beliefs cause parents to keep their daughters from attending school, or focus on boys’ education much more than girls’.

Many groups are starting to respond to this huge lack of education, however. The World Bank has already given over $33 billion to education-related projects (it is currently one of the world’s largest funders of educational programs). The United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals also feature education prominently, calling for countries to achieve universal primary education for their children, and also for girls to be given an equal opportunity in education. Global partnerships such as Education for All (EFA), launched in Thailand in 1990, are connecting organizations from the World Bank to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) to spread education, especially in developing countries that are struggling with their education programs.

If developing countries can offer good quality education to kids, the results will be tremendous. Education is considered a ‘vaccine’ for HIV/AIDS – if children are educated about the disease, they are much less likely to contract the disease. Literacy helps communication and reasoning skills in children. And most importantly, education can help children from impoverished families break out of poverty. For every year of schooling children have, their salary as an adult will increase by an average of 10% - whether they are a girl OR a boy.

Read More @ http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00282/edu_poverty.htm