World leaders and football stars have kicked off a campaign to get 75 million uneducated children into schools by 2015. The project, named 1Goal, coincides with the 2010 South Africa World Cup, as half of these 75 million children live on the African continent.
Listen to a Newsline report here:
The project’s main goal is to help children around the world get a proper education - ten years after the same aim was set as part of the 1999 Millennium Goals.
Back then, over 110 million children weren't in school. That number has now fallen to 75 million.
World leaders
On Tuesday the campaign kicked off at a ceremony in London with global satellite links to world leaders, including South African President Jacob Zuma, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. They were joined by football stars from past and present, like Gary Lineker, Marcel Desailly, Sir Bobby Charlton and Ruud Gullit.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende joined the campaign from his official residency, the Catshuis in The Hague. As a key donor to many developing countries, the Dutch role in the 1Goal campaign is significant, hence Mr Balkenende’s role in Tuesday’s ceremony.
Negative spiral
“The Dutch will stand shoulder to shoulder behind our national team to support them in South Africa”, Mr Balkenende said. “But today, we also stand shoulder to shoulder behind the 1Goal campaign. 75 Million children are at risk of being trapped in a negative spiral of lifelong poverty due to their lack of education. We must not allow that to happen”.
The 1Goal campaign paints a very optimistic picture of the future when every child in the world should has access to proper education. But isn’t that simply over-optimistic?. Mr Balkenende thinks the goals are feasible. “It’s an important goal”, he says. “75 Million children who don’t have access to education will have the possibility to develop themselves. In the past ten years, it’s been possible to get 40 million children educated. Now we have to do much more, but I think we’ll be able to do it”.
Watch 1Goal's official video here (Story continues below):
Educational programmes
The Netherlands already has long running educational programmess in development countries and these will be continued, Mr Balkenende adds. “We’re already spending 600 million euros a year on education. I think it’s important that other countries put in effort as well to reach the same goals”.
But with the ongoing recession, the world leaders were very cautious not to give direct financial guarantees during the ceremony, despite the well written speeches. That could mean it might prove difficult for the politicians to put the money where their mouths are in the coming years.
Catalyst
It’s a fear not shared by Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit, who joined Prime Minister Balkenende at the Catshuis. He thinks the power of football is enough to get everyone behind the 1Goal campaign and make it work. “We must understand that football is much more than just a game”, he says, “it’s so popular around the world that if there is a problem that needs attention, football can be the catalyst. Footballers themselves may not be able to solve problems, but at least we can raise awareness”.
Despite football’s popularity and influence, education remains number one, adds Mr Gullit: “That’s where it all starts. If you have no education, your social life will suffer. Like in football, you need to understand to live with each other and respect each other, even if you may not like each other. The more educated you are, the better you understand that”.
But which goal is more important - the Dutch orange team winning the World Cup or sending 75 million children to school? “It’s both”, was Mr Balkenende’s simple answer.
Photo by ANP
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