I’m pleased to see local students taking an active role in the future of their education (“Designs on planning a new school,” Jan. 16, The Columbian). In this never-ending news cycle, many probably missed the news that 20-year-old Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, who risked her life for the chance to go to school, has graduated from high school. As she says, “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.”
A harrowing 263 million youth are out of school globally. It doesn’t have to be this way. The Global Partnership for Education is launching a plan to give millions of kids the education that is their fundamental right. If the world gets behind the GPE plan, more than 25 million more children will be able to complete primary and lower secondary school, 1.7 million teachers will be trained, and more than 23,000 new classrooms will be built. But that requires resources to make it a reality.
Right now, a resolution is circulating in Congress (H.Res. 466/S.Res. 286), and our elected officials can sign on to show their support. I hope we can count on our elected officials to step up with a bold commitment to investing in the future of education for people like Yousafzai.
