Letter: Global education efforts need our support

<p><strong>To the Editor:</strong></p><p>When COVID-19 raced across the world, daily routines were interrupted, stopped in their tracks.</p><p>Kids were no longer racing to catch the school bus. Parents weren’t racing off to work. Businesses shut down. Schools closed everywhere. Fortunately, in this country, educators were able to come up with creative ways to keep educating our children.</p><p>That was not true in many low-income countries. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education systems world-wide. Even before the pandemic, 75 million children in crisis- and conflict-affected countries needed support to access quality education.</p><p>Quality education is the right of every child, and the benefits go well beyond learning. When children learn, and learn well, they have the keys to a more just, prosperous and equal future. That is true in this country and around the world. And the benefits of education are paid forward to future generations.</p><p>The Global Partnership for Education (GPE), is the only public partnership exclusively focused on achieving quality education for all girls and boys. The GPE helps governments invest in innovative solutions to get all children in school. The GPE mobilizes funds in partnerships with wealthier countries to support lower-income countries’ investments in education.</p><p>The GPE has been doing this transformative work for more than 20 years. Progress on education is increasingly under threat from the pandemic. Congress has supported the GPE in the past, but it is time to step up our pledge in the FY22 budget.</p><p>Ask our Senators Todd Young and Mike Braun and Rep. Trey Hollingsworth to support a robust pledge to the Global Partnership for Education. We know the far reaching importance of quality education in this country, but it is important in every country, creating a more stable and safe world for the future.</p><p><p><strong>Diane Lindley</strong></p><p><p><strong>Needham</strong></p>