President Sirleaf's Address at Global Summit 2013

Global education community: Greetings from Liberia! I am Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and it is my pleasure to join you virtually to kick off the 2013 USAID Global Education Summit. As every person in the room knows, education is the cornerstone of any nation's development. I believe education is a basic human right and is fundamental to addressing global poverty. We know that educated women raise healthier children, and educated societies are more peaceful, prosperous and democratic. Like each of you, I, too, am committed to improving learning opportunities for all children and youth boys and girls alike to ensure a more prosperous, healthy and stable future. In Liberia, 14 years of civil conflict destroyed our schools, hospitals, roads, power grids and water systems. Teachers fled or were killed. A generation of Liberian children grew up displaced in refugee camps in neighboring countries. For years our country's literacy rate hovered at around thirty percent. When peace finally prevailed in 2003, Liberians were filled with hopes and aspirations to recover from the war and rebuild our country. Parents and children began to demand the opportunity to learn to read and write. In 2006, when I became President, I knew that the core challenge I would face was to respond to this national yearning for education. Our country could not afford to lose another generation of students, so we declared rebuilding the education sector a number one priority. With the support of our global partners, like USAID, we set about building and rehabilitating schools. We made primary education free and compulsory. The result of this effort is that the number of students enrolled nationwide has increased from 1 million to 1.5 million. Yet rebuilding schools is not enough; we must strengthen the management and administration of our education system, provide equitable access to education and ensure that children are learning. In Liberia, many teachers still lack adequate skills to teach reading, the fundamental tool for learning. Too many children in classrooms across the country are unable to read a single word by the third grade. This is unacceptable and my administration, with the support of our partners, is committed to the critical next step: improving quality. We must generate learning opportunities that will inspire children and youth to become life-long learners. We must provide young people and adults the chance to continue their learning through strengthened non-formal, higher education and vocational and technical training. We must equip teachers with the skills to teach reading and math, and encourage them to serve as mentors and role models for their students. We must support young girls by improving pedagogy and facilities to meet their needs and make them feel safe and nurtured in the school environment. And we must create a culture of reading, backed up with the books and activities necessary to support reading and learning. That is why I am pleased to announce the launch of Liberia's National Reading Campaign on International Literacy Day on September 8th! The goal of this campaign is to ignite the passion for reading, create lifelong readers and highlight the importance of reading for developing and sustaining Liberia. This campaign is not just a message, it is action. It is my sincere hope that through these efforts Liberia will develop an authentic culture of reading and a sustained demand for quality education. The most powerful investment we can make to create healthy, prosperous and stable societies is education. Let us unite in our collective effort to call the world's attention to education and continue our endeavor to create opportunity through learning for all of our children and youth. Thank you. 1