"I would like to learn about maths and science, but does it take away my poverty or make me more loving? We need education that is appropriate to make us human beings... someone who is loving, considerate, honest and upright, serving the land and being productive, devoted to people and humanity."
Avelino Androga, program director of Needs Service Education Agency, which is building resources for education in war-ravaged Sudan.

Learning is a lifelong process – a process that to a large extent determines the course of our lives. The better we understand ourselves and the world around us, the better placed we are to act responsibly in the world and make informed decisions. For millions of people, education is a crucial factor in ending poverty and avoiding HIV/AIDS – particularly the education (and hence empowerment) of women and girls.

Formal education is only part of the learning process, but it is a crucial part. Recognising this, one of the UN’s Millennium Goals is to ensure that every child completes at least primary education. Literacy levels in developing countries have increased over the past decade, and today’s young people are better educated than ever before in history. But more than 100 million children still miss out on school entirely, many because of school fees that have been introduced as part of economic ‘liberalisation’ packages enforced by Western governments.

At the same time, millions of graduates in industrialized countries are highly literate and numerate but otherwise sadly uneducated about the world around them. Education is a global challenge.

See also Children and youth, Gender.