FACT: Ensuring that every child has access to education is important to individual development, as well as to local, national and even international growth and progress.

This is why, in many countries, basic education is a fundamental right of every child, often guaranteed by a constitution. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that everyone "has the right to an education." Unfortunately, for 115 million children worldwide, the right to an education is unrealized.

With at least a basic education (completion of primary school), a child can become a more self-sufficient adult, who has more decision-making control over her or his life. Survey after survey reveals that, regardless of economic status, parents, from rich and poor backgrounds, want their childrensons and daughtersto have an education. Universal basic education brings with it not only individual benefits but it adds to local and national economic and social progress. Girls and women, in particular, stand to gain enormously from a complete basic education. Studies demonstrate that a well-educated female population is healthier, more productive, and better equipped to participate as active decision-makers both on the community level and in national parliaments.

Lastly, achieving universal primary education is fundamental to attaining the other seven Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight objectives to accelerate human development and achieve universal equality by 2015. Ensuring that each child can fulfill her or his right to an education, for example, can lead to the lowered risk of child mortality (MDG 4), the reduction of susceptibility to HIV infection (MDG 6), and improved management of natural resources (MDG 7). Why? The answer lies in the simple definition of 'educate', which, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is to "provide with knowledge; to provide with information." Information or knowledge is the foundation for effective decision making and leads to countless benefits, including more active participation in social and political activities as well. As the noted economist, J.K. Galbraith once remarked: "& in this world, there is no literate population that is poor, no illiterate population that is other than poor."

Education for All (EFA) and MDG 2 are the world's calls to achieve universal primary education by 2015. The immediate challenge is to provide quality basic education to all children, including girls who account for nearly 60% of all primary-age children not in school. Many things need to be done. The list is long and demands consistent political commitment, resources, improved curricula, better systems of teacher training, revised methods of learning assessments, greater participation of parents and the community, and efficient school administration, to name a few.

For EFA and Goal 2 to become a reality, what is needed most urgently is AFE: All for Education. In other words, there must be a groundswell of global support at every level to make universal primary education a social norm throughout the world. Only a mass movement to actively support these goals can ensure that every child can fulfill her or his right to learn.