CAIRO: Jordan’s Queen Rania Al-Abdullah underlined the importance of education and eradicating illiteracy in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “Global education is as expensive as the expenditure of the war of Iraq and Afghanistan in one month, yet it brings the world benefit that is of no money value can compare, she said.
Rania said that while people agree on the importance of eradicating illiteracy and sending the uneducated 75 million children to school, they still lack the sense of urgency. She explained that there is an inadequate sense of motivation to move towards that goal.
Queen Rania is partnering with the Clinton Global Initiative, in addition to many other groups to create the sense of urgency. She was also appointed as cofounder and global cochairman of the 1 Goal Campaign.
The campaign’s purpose is to ensure that children in Africa and the world’s poorest countries are granted access to classrooms, teachers and education overall. 1 Goal calls on football fans to sign their names at www.join1goal.org and urge world leaders to invest in education.
“Out of popular support comes political will to act, Rania said, “We re hoping to gather almost 30 million signatures from people all over the world to try to really make sure that our leaders fulfill their commitments.
Queen Rania said she was exposed to issues that pushed her forward to take on human development, in which, she says, education is the main factor.
She notes that even though the cost of education in the Arab world is hefty, it is the quality of education that matters.
“In the classroom is where we need to begin to give our young people an education that carries them for life, allows them to become critical thinkers and debaters, creators and problem solvers. Those are the things that provide people with the equal chance to make something out of their lives, she concluded.
Queen Rania obtained her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the American University in Cairo. She married King Abdullah in 1993.
