US Support of Global Education Lagging

In 2000, 150 nations pledged at a meeting in Dakar, Senegal, to send every child in the world to school in the coming decade. In 2005, leaders of major industrial nations at a G8 Conference pledged to provide the support to make this happen. Education Week (April 19, 2006; www.edweek.org) reported that the United Kingdom has pledged $15 billion — $1.5 billion per year for ten years — to give a major boost to the "Education for All" initiative. Currently, the United States commitment, $450 million in 2006, is less than 1/3 of the UK commitment, and far below what is needed to achieve Education for All goals. At the current level of support the initiative is receiving, Education Week reports, it will take another 150 years before the goal of education for all children becomes a reality in Africa. For example, the continent needs at least 15 million more teachers to fulfill the goal.

Contributed by Exchange, The Early Childhood Leaders' Magazine Since 1978

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