It’s All about Education

Why should we care whether children in less-developed countries, like Afghanistan, are educated?  Beyond issues of human rights and human dignity, access to education enhances global stability.  It is also an essential building block to ending hunger and poverty.  Consider the following:

��          When girls are educated, their future income increases dramatically, they and their children live longer and healthier lives, and malnutrition in the family declines sharply.

��          Education decreases harmful traditional practices, like early childhood marriage, female genital mutilation and child slavery.

��          Exclusion from education disproportionately affects the most poor and vulnerable children.  Without hope and opportunity, these children are more likely to be exploited or recruited by terrorist organizations.

��          Education is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of AIDS and has been called a “social vaccine.”  For girls with primary education, their risk of infection is reduced by 25% -- for those with secondary education, the risk is reduced by 50%.

��          In some parts of the world, over 50% of the population is under the age of 15.  Education teaches much-needed leadership skills, civic responsibility and life skills.

��          Education provides a foundation for democratic governments.  It builds respect for the rule of law and concepts of justice, and it provides citizens with a stake in their own future.

��          Education promotes tolerance and decreases extremism by providing safe environments for children to come together to learn about other languages, religions, cultures and customs, learn non-violent dispute resolution, and build bridges and breakdown misunderstandings between classmates, as well as community members.

Afghanistan is a harsh example of what happens to a country when you take education away.  It literally became the most poor and oppressed country in the world.  To build it back up, education is key.