[b]“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”[/b]
[b]B.B. King[/b]
[b]Education is a wonderful thing, and no one has the power to take that away from any child. Therefore, whether one is from the upper east side of Manhattan or a small town in the rural area, he/she deserves the opportunity to be educated. Unfortunately, this is not the reality. According to the ERP partnership, four out of five of the at least 61 million out of school children and, as a consequence, of about 775 million illiterate youth and adults are rural people. Many low-income families in these areas face difficult obstacles to feed one another, let alone to be able to afford school. The latest U.S Census Bureau showed that 15.1 percent of rural Americans are living in poverty. Currently, we are trying to decrease that percentage.[/b]
[b]The ERP partnership, a community of practice on education and training, has long reached out a lending hand to the rural communities. They are a research-based organization and promote the multisectoral alliances between education and agriculture. The ERP partnership works with over 400 partners that include governments and universities. One of the many issues that arise on the education for rural people is illiteracy. Illiteracy is strongly related with total development and the wealth of each nation. This can also affect the economy, productivity, and health of a entire nation and its inhabitants. Research showed that increased access to basic educational services for rural people contributes directly to improved productivity, food security and livelihoods. Furthermore, research was also done on measuring the relationship in low-income countries between farmers’ education and their agricultural efficiency. It was then shown that farmers who were more educated tend to have more farm productivity. [/b]
[b]In addition, having an education means so much more than farm productivity. It allows one to have an identity, to be involved and to connect to the rest of the world. It enables them to explore beyond the horizon. According to EFA Global Monitoring Report, an estimated 776 million adults lack basic literacy and two-thirds of them are women. The lack of learning opportunities for rural women prevented them to reach their fullest potential. This is not only unfortunate, it is very disturbing. [/b]
[b]Today, the major aim and goal of the EFA partnership was to ensure access and completion of quality education for the rural people. By the year 2015, they plan to have all children have access to free and compulsory primary education of good quality. This will have accomplished a 50 percent increase in adult literacy. Furthermore, to make sure that the all the learning materials, all children and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes. This was a big step towards the enhancement in the rural area. We can see a green light of hope in the near future. And you can help lit the light by donating to one of the Givology children/projects. Most of our children grew up in rural areas, and because of the geographical differences, they were not able to obtain an education. And in order to get the education they have dreamed of, they need your help. Please help by donating! Every penny counts![/b]
[b] For more information : [url=http://www.fao.org/erp/en/]http://www.fao.org/erp/en/[/url]
To Donate to a Givology student/project: [url=http://www.givology.com/giv-now/]http://www.givology.com/giv-now/[/url]
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06 JAN 2013