24/02/2016
Part of the speech given by the FCEL-Director Mr. M. A. Roberts on Monday 23rd Feb 2016 during the launching of the EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS IN TANZANIA campaign in Moshi.
"If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much"- Mariam Wright Edelman
World reports show that a child dies every three seconds from either malaria, HIV/AIDS or extreme poverty; often before their 5th birthday. 75 million children are out of school around the world, a figure equivalent to the entire primary school-age population in Europe and America. And majority of those are in Sub-Saharan African countries. Child survival rates jump 40% if girls are educated at least for 5 years.
So it all zeroes down to education. As Kofi Annan once put it, education is a human right with immense power to transform the world. On its foundation rests the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.
But when we talk of education, we must be meaning quality education. Because, education is not just the filling of a pail, rather the lighting of a fire. If every child received quality education, more than half the population of the entire world and Tanzania in particular would be lifted from poverty. Quality education unlocks the door to success in life; it is essential to development and health, and it opens the way for democratic participation and active citizenship. The current African leadership challenges would be addressed once and for all if our governments decisively invested in education as a liberation means.
Therefore, us from FCEL we envision a Tanzania and the world in which all children can pursue quality education, reach their full potential and contribute to their communities and the world.