Gordon Brown, Robert Zoellick, Shakira to Kick Off Global Campaign for Education Action Week

What:

On April 21, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, World Bank President Robert Zoellick, and Grammy award-winning artist Shakira will participate in a media conference call to kick off the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) Action Week that will take place April 21-27, 2008. They will join with GCE’s coalition in 120 countries to call on government leaders to support basic education to all children, including the 72 million young children and 226 million older youths who are out of school around the world.

Who:

Gordon Brown, Prime Minister, United Kingdom

Robert Zoellick, President, World Bank

Shakira, Honorary Chairperson, GCE Action Week

Gene Sperling, Chair, U.S. Chapter of GCE

When:

Monday, April 21, 12:00 noon ET by teleconference.

How:

To sign up or for further information, please contact any of the media contacts listed above. On the day of the call, participants should dial (800) 311-9408 (U.S.), (0800) 092-3582 (U.K.), or +1 (334) 323-7224 (other international). The password is “action week.”

Why:

As part of GCE Action Week, activists and students around the world will be joining Shakira, Prime Minister Brown and Bank President Zoellick in calling for more resources for the millions of children who do not have access to a classroom. In the U.S., this includes raising awareness for the bipartisan Education for All Act of 2007 (EFA). The purpose of the EFA Act is to “ensure that the U.S. provides the resources and leadership to ensure a successful international effort to provide all children with a quality basic education.” It calls for $1 billion for bilateral global basic education investment scaling up to $3 billion by 2012. The EFA Act requires the president to develop a comprehensive, integrated strategy for the U.S. to follow in working to reach the 2015 goal of universal access to education for all children.

Action Week will also include the “World’s Biggest Lesson” on April 23, when millions of children worldwide will attempt to break the world record for the largest lesson ever through learning and teaching a curriculum about the denial of quality education to tens of millions of poor children.