Education helps to prevent childhood labor, trafficking, sexual exploitation, and the use of children as soldiers - (UNESCO)

In Uganda, four years of primary education leads to a 7% increase in a farmer’s output;
increases agricultural productivity & reduces malnutrition - More productive farming accounts for 43% of the decline in malnutrition achieved between 1970 and 1995 - (Net Aid)

Increase in the number textbooks available -
•  Reduced absenteeism by 27%
•  Raised the likelihood that 8th graders would continue to secondary school by 14%

One additional year of schooling leads to a 10% increase in earned wages - (World Bank)

Why Education

Education is fundamental in creating a stable future for human security, community development and national progress. Considered one of the best hopes for improving the lifetime prospects of a child, education provides young people with the opportunity to acquire attitudes, skills and competencies that are needed in the labor market and which promote greater civil participation and support for further development.

Just some of the areas most affected by education

• Heath - Improves health and reduces HIV/AIDS; Mothers are 50% more likely to immunize their children than mothers with no schooling; Teen Pregnancy rate - 70% with no schooling, 40% with schooling - (Net Aid)
  Life expectancy rises by as much as 2 years for every 1 per cent increase in literacy - (UN Report)
• Poverty - 314 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live on less than one dollar per day. With just one additional year of schooling, wage earnings are 10% higher - (World Bank)
• Politics/Democracy - "Countries that have undergone a democratic transition have much lower cases of corruption than other countries," Edouard Al-Dahdah, Operations Officer - (World Bank)
  "Education makes it possible for people to be responsible and informed citizens, and to have a voice in politics and society, which is essential for sustaining democracy. It also provides people with the knowledge and awareness needed to promote tolerance and understanding among people" - (UN Report)
  With a secondary education, attendance by women at a polital meeting is 3 times more likely than women with no education - (UNDP)
• Economics - An adult with a primary education earns twice as much as an adult without any schooling - (UNESCO)
  Investments in education reaps higher returns than investments in physcial capital (approximately 11% to 30%) - (Net Aid)
• Population - Population growth is irrevocably connected to health, education, and women's rights issues. "Education and health care play a significant part in the voluntary reduction of the birth rate. If sub-Saharan Africa had lowered the average population growth rate of 3.1 to 1.4 percent (matching China, the lowest among the low-income countries), it would have gained roughly 1.7 percent in per-capita GNP growth." (Amartya Sen Noble Prize for economics, 1998)
• Agriculture/Land Use - Helps farmers achieve better understanding of conservation measures and irrigation methods which enables them to overcome poverty and improve contributions to the local economy and society - (IMF report 2005)
  Farming practices can be improved through basic education - (UNDP)