Education as the great equalizer, part III

June 14, 2010

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This example and plenty of statistics tell us that the best form of prevention against poverty is education. They also reveal that people who have completed their secondary education or who have entered &#&higher education&#& are less likely to slide into poverty and/or to become unemployed.

In 8 September 2000 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Resolution signing the United Nations Millennium Declaration Goals. One of its main goals was "development and poverty eradication".

The world leaders committed themselves "to free fellow men, women and children" from what was called "the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty".

Extreme or absolute poverty or destitution creates in fact dehumanizing conditions and it requires the coordinated efforts of the whole world, especially the rich countries. "It also depends on good governance within each country, as well as on good governance at the international level and on transparency in the financial, monetary and trading systems", they sustained.

The governments and states are obliged to provide these solutions but all of us may offer a little help, which can result in a big difference at the end.

Among other important resolutions, they committed themselves "To promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable."

Empowering women has proved to be one of the best strategies in this matter. By this action some countries discovered that it has helped increase and sustain economic development. It has been demonstrated that women, who received more education, better than best &#&high education&#&, feel they are given more rights and opportunities; they seem to act more responsibly in helping people in the family or village.

When these women are better educated and more in control of their lives, they are more successful in bringing down rapid population growth because they have more authority in family planning.

This strategy is giving the central role to education as a fundamental weapon.

No doubt education isn't a short term solution. It requires time, compromise and decision, but it has proved its success in long term objectives and goals.

This isn't a new concept for us. History in the United States has shown that Americans saw education as the way to end the perpetual cycle of poverty.