Education
Secretary Clinton delivers remarks at UNESCO ( © UNESCO)
The U.S. Mission's work with UNESCO’s Education Sector is one of our top priorities. We work with the Education Sector and other member states on issues such as literacy and basic education, the use of technology in education, anti-racism education and Holocaust Education.
Girls’ Education Matters
In May of 2011, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came to UNESCO to participate in the launch of UNESCO’s groundbreaking new initiative, Better Life, Better Future: The Global Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education. The initiative aims to bring together world leaders from the private and public sectors to make quality education available to girls and women.
At the launch event, Secretary Clinton spoke highly of the Global Partnership, underscoring the success of the initiative in drawing together diverse sources of funding and expertise.
"I am confident that, by working with other UN agencies, institutions, and private sector partners, UNESCO can help make a much needed difference for women and girls and their educational opportunities around the world," she said.
She also spoke of the U.S.'s commitment to eliminating the global gender gap for by supporting a new UNESCO study on causes of gender disparities and education. She said that “the study will not just be an important step forward to get information, but the test will be how we use this information, whether we can pioneer innovative partnerships to create new opportunities for women and girls to learn and prosper."
Teaching about Tolerance
The U.S. Delegation’s work in Education also includes efforts to teach principles of tolerance in schools around the globe. To that end, in early 2011, UNESCO will launch an innovative partnership between the U.S. Department of State and the Government of Brazil to develop and promote an anti-racism curriculum entitled “Teaching Respect for All.”
The “Teaching Respect for All” curriculum will be developed over the next two years, after which time it will be disseminated worldwide by UNESCO through education ministries and the extensive network of UNESCO-affiliated schools.
Literacy for All
The U.S. Mission is also working to help UNESCO achieve measurable results toward the goals of Education for All and the UN Literacy Decade. Former First Lady Laura Bush, as Honorary Ambassador for the United Nations Literacy Decade (2000-2010), has led many of America’s efforts to bring education to people worldwide, and especially to women and girls, including a project to build a teacher-training institute for women in Afghanistan.
In 2006, Mrs. Bush hosted the White House Conference on Global Literacy as the starting point for a major campaign in support of international literacy, highlighted by six UNESCO regional literacy conferences held throughout 2007-2008, in Doha, Beijing, Bamako, New Delhi, Baku, and Mexico City. These Regional Conferences built upon and extended the work begun at the White House Conference.