Summer holidays are here. Pandemic or no pandemic, I know that children across Canada are ready for the warm weather and the change in routine, even while their parents are scrambling to figure out what to do to continue working.
Now consider children who do not have the advantage of school, who do not know the rhythm of the school year, who do not have anything to look forward to. Keeping girls in school pays high dividends, according to the Global Partnership for Education, the World Bank Group and other organizations devoted to the research into the effects of education on women.
If every girl received 12 years of schooling, girls’ higher lifetime earnings would grow low-income economies an astounding US $30 trillion worldwide, and maternal deaths would decline by two-thirds. If girls achieved universal secondary education, population growth could be reduced substantially.
We must keep our eye on the prize, and Canada must continue to support the Global Partnership for Education by contributing $500 million over five years. It would be fantastic for this beleaguered planet if children around the world had access to quality education during and after the pandemic, and they too could look forward to the rhythms of the school year.
Connie Lebeau
Victoria
