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Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
at the UNESCO 33rd General Conference
Ministerial Round Table on Education for All
October 7, 2005
As delivered
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Thank you Minister Singh, I appreciate this opportunity to talk about ensuring that every child around the globe receives a quality education. I am pleased this discussion is taking place and appreciate the Director General’s support. All of us are charged with the honorable responsibility of making the goal of a quality education for all a reality. And as education leaders, all of us know how education can enrich a child’s life.
UNESCO’s commendable mission is to bring hope to children and adults all around the world. In 1945, America was one of the first to ratify your constitution, and today, America firmly supports UNESCO’s goal of Education for All by 2015. Like you, we firmly believe that increasing global literacy is the most effective way to achieve that goal.
The spread of literacy is fundamental to the spread of human freedom. Teaching people to read strengthens economies, curbs the spread of diseases, and saves human lives. Teaching women to read enables them to contribute to their societies, and helps their children develop skills and a desire for knowledge. By reading about others around the world, we learn to see beyond ignorance and bigotry, and to respect and appreciate cultures that are not our own.
Literacy is a critical factor in closing what Queen Rania of Jordan, an inspiring, dedicated leader in this vital area, has called the world’s “hope gap.” The hope gap separates those who believe they have a future from those who fear they have none. UNESCO members know that the hope gap matters to every nation, because it exists in every nation.
In my country, we are fighting to overcome our own pockets of acute need. In education, we have what we call an achievement gap. It separates students who are making progress in school from those who are not.
We in America have a long and difficult road ahead of us in closing this gap. Only a little more than 50 years ago, our schools were separated by race. And today, minority students continue to lag behind their peers. We have only recently fully committed ourselves to ensuring that children of every race and background are learning to proficiency, and we are holding ourselves accountable for achievement for all.
A few years ago, my nation took our belief that every child can succeed and made it into law. That law is called No Child Left Behind, and it has helped our students achieve more progress in the last 5 years than in the previous 30 combined according to our latest National Education report card.
America certainly does not have all the answers. But we have learned some valuable lessons – including that we must measure student learning regularly. Once we know the contours of a problem, and who is affected, we can start working on the solution. Teachers can adjust lesson plans. Administrators can evaluate curricula. And leaders can provide clear, achievable priorities 1
and devote resources towards those priorities. We can direct additional resources to addressing special needs.
I am confident that data and accountability will be our long-term keys to success. We must not rely on guesswork or anecdotal evidence to guide our children’s futures – as we in our country have too often done. We must focus our resources on proven strategies.
Our role in the international community, including as UNESCO partners, is to build capacity and develop methods and programs around our strategic priorities, in order to achieve measurable results and effective outcomes. Without specific, measurable progress, we will not achieve our shared goals of improved literacy and full access to education by 2015. We will not have done all we can do to maximize our investments to the good of humanity.
At Wednesday’s plenary session I was pleased to deliver a greeting from America’s First Lady, Mrs. Laura Bush, the Honorary Ambassador for the United Nations Literacy Decade. I was also honored to travel with her to Afghanistan earlier this year. We visited the Women's Teacher Training Institute in Kabul, a school she helped create. Women from all over Afghanistan will come to this institute to learn to be teachers. They in turn will visit rural communities to train even more women to teach reading.
As a result of this program where teachers train other teachers, our efforts will multiply, and women throughout Afghanistan will begin to lead more hopeful lives. They will be more likely to enter the workforce, and to participate in their country’s new democracy. And they will raise healthier, more educated, more tolerant children—children who will lead Afghanistan towards a more hopeful future.
I would also like to note the growing importance of private education efforts to addressing basic education needs in many countries around the world. Village-level programs, schools operated by non-governmental organizations, as well as schools founded by private entities are making important contributions to increasing school attendance and improved performance. The private sector is important to achieving the Education for All goals.
UNESCO is spreading hope and opportunity to individuals throughout our world. Programs like your mother-and-child literacy initiatives are making a real difference in the lives of current and future generations. Through focused planning and evidence-based decision-making, we can reach the right and righteous goal of Education for All.
Thank you.
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