British PM and Pop Singer Shakira Lead Education Effort (2/2)
If we meet our goals in education, we will not just transform those children's lives for good. By consigning childhood illiteracy to history we will help make poverty history too."
As British treasury chief in 2006, Mr. Brown pledged $15 billion over 10 years for education in the developing world. Last month, Britain and France each agreed to support the education of eight million children in Africa by 2010.
Britain's commitment in this area dwarfs that of the United States, whose funding for global education aid is $465 million a year. Shakira will meet with U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday to persuade them to pass a bill, which members of both parties have endorsed, to increase U.S. aid for education in developing countries to $3 billion a year by 2012. The Education For All Act was introduced last May, but has not passed either house of Congress.
Another event sponsored by the Global Campaign for Education this week will have an estimated five million students from more than 100 countries take part Wednesday in an effort to break the world record for the largest simultaneous lesson.
