Photo of the week: scoring goals for education

As the excitement of the World Cup continues, it’s important not to lose sight of the things that really matter (apart from the Socceroos’ brave performance) such as education for everyone.

The sad truth is that over 72 million children are missing out on attending primary school. Over half of these children are girls. At this very moment, 1 billion people around the world cannot read or write.

Mudua, a striker for the Tshiombo White Pool women’s football team from the Limpopo Province, South Africa, shows her support for the 1GOAL campaign.

This is why ActionAid is supporting 1GOAL, the biggest campaign around a sporting event that the world has ever seen. 1GOAL has a simple aspiration: by 2015, everyone has access to a basic education. 

Through 1GOAL, ActionAid continues to call for more funding and greater prioritisation for education from all countries. This includes asking developed nations, including Australia, for more $16 billion in aid and focusing on the domestic education policies of governments across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

ActionAid, along with Education International  has also produced a new toolkit on education financing, which aims to hold national governments to account for delivering on the right to education as guaranteed. The toolkit is also aimed at combating international constraints on funding for education, challenging policies such as those of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), that have been proven to constrain spending on education.

Take the 1GOAL pledge by signing your name on the petition and demand our world leaders act to make education for all a reality.