Edwards pushes education, anti-poverty efforts
US Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said Thursday that if elected, he would appoint a Cabinet-level officer to oversee efforts to fight global poverty and promote democracy abroad. Edwards said the anti-poverty official would report directly to the president and would co-ordinate efforts to extend primary education to more than 100 million children in the developing world, improve the United States' image abroad and coordinate micro-finance loans to small entrepreneurs. Edwards said combating terrorism should begin in classrooms, not battlefields.

MSNBC/AP, March 16, 2007

Government striving for availability of higher education to all: Dr Atta
KARACHI - Chairman, Higher Education Commission, Prof. Dr. Attaur Rehman, has said that revolutionary steps are being taken to make higher education accessible to both poor and rich. The [Pakistan] Government has started Rs one billion scholarship programme whereby even poor students are given financial assistance for higher studies abroad.

Associated Press of Pakistan, March 16, 2007

Campaign launched to implement right to education
A nationwide campaign has been launched in India  to urge the government to give teeth to the Right to Education Bill, which aims at making education compulsory for all children aged 6-14.

India eNews/IANS, March 14, 2007

For a girl in rural India, education is a difficult pursuit
Anuradha Rathore knows of no women doctors in her native village or its surrounding area. Among her 100 classmates at the Sampurnanand Medical College in Jodhpur, she is one of 30 females. The 20-year-old medical student grew up in Kansera, a remote village in Rajasthan, India's largest state. At that time, children were able to go to school only up to the fifth year of primary school, Rathore said. "Nothing beyond that." In the last couple of years, educational opportunities have improved there: A coed school now goes up to grade 8. While India's economy booms, educational opportunities remain out of grasp for large numbers of rural poor, especially girls, according to international agencies and researchers.

CNN, March 18, 2007

Education as a commons: why we should all share in the picnic of knowledge
As a secondary school student I attended a public school. The school itself had a number of 'temporary' classrooms that had been there for some 40 years. The gym was average, the playground large and the library a great place to hide in when avoiding classes. I thought all schools were like that until one day we played a game of rugby against Scots College. It was like being faced with Crocodile Dundee, "That's not a school - this is a school" There is no doubt that there are serious disparities between schools across Australia. Not just between public and private schools, but across different regions. There is also serious under investment in our public education system, which Australia will suffer from in the long term.

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Literacy program in Port Moresby settlements is supported by Caritas Australia
As the quality of one's life is undeniably linked to our ability to read and write, if we are to overcome poverty and empower those in need, we must give all citizens of the world the chance to learn to read and write.

Caritas Australia, together with our partner the Archdiocese of Port Moresby Social Apostolate Centre, is addressing this issue through the provision of an Adult Literacy Program in Papua New Guinea's capital, Port Moresby.

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Biggest challenge in wealth creation
"Without investment in human capital and seeking to develop the 'whole' individual, Kenya's economy will continue to experience intellectual marginalisation, isolation and rising poverty levels. The 1998-99 world development report observed that knowledge is like light, weightless and intangible; it can easily travel the world, enlightening the lives of people everywhere. Yet billions of people still live in the darkness of poverty - unnecessarily. It can be correctly argued that many youths in Kenya live in poverty partly because they cannot reach the switch (education) to turn on the light. Higher education has never been as important to the future of Kenya as it is now. While investment in higher education does not guarantee overnight economic development, however, in order to sustain economic growth and human development, investment in our universities is a must. Universities create seminal theoretical and applied knowledge and teach people how to access and use the knowledge."

Fredrick Muyia Nafukho

Kenya Times, March 16, 2007

The Global Campaign for Education
is an organisation of Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and teachers' unions from over 150 countries striving to attain universal, quality education. It promotes education as a basic human right, and mobilises public pressure on governments and the international community to fulfil their promises to provide free, compulsory public basic education for all people; in particular for children, women and all disadvantaged, deprived sections of society. The site features news and resources as well as an action section where you can download materials and join in the Global Action Week campaign from April 23-29, 2007.

http://www.campaignforeducation.org/

An Iraqi mother and daughter pursue education against the odds
UNICEF Radio correspondent Blue Chevigny talks with Amal, an Iraqi teacher and single mother of four, and her daughter, Saja, 11, who is determined to stay in school. More...

UNICEF Radio, Download as a MP3 file (duration 3:54 minutes)

"Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development." Kofi Annan, State of the World's Children, 1999 Education. More...

Right to education
We pray for all those around the world who want to learn,
But are denied their right to education.
We pray too for those who teach, especially
Those who work with few resources and little support.
We give thanks for the knowledge, skills and understanding we have
And we ask your help to remember how much we have still to learn.
Teach us to respect wisdom, wherever we find it.
As you walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus
Walk with us as we try to understand.
Open our hearts and minds to new learning
Even when it challenges us to change.
Give us the courage to tackle injustice and
Guide us towards a new, shared future,
Where everyone has the chance to learn,
and all may grow in wisdom and understanding.

© Linda Jones/CAFOD