Education can be conveyed in a variety of unconventional, innovative and traditional ways. The bottom line though, education is necessary to become a productive and informed member of our ever changing, fast past global world. Achieving universal education will allow the globe as whole to move in a positive direction. More educated societies will translate to a more peaceful and productive future.The UN has made it the number two Millenium Development goal. (Millenium Development goals are the world’s time-bound targets for addressing critical global issues).

This ongoing movement of making education available to all is already working.The United Nations reports that enrollment in primary education in developing regions reached 90% in 2010, which is up from 82% in 1999. But the fact remains that in 2011 there were still 57 million people who were unenrolled at the equivalent of a primary school. Even with substantial growth in education rates throughout the last decade, in recent years it has slowed. In 2012 one in ten children of primary school age were still out of school.

Which education, comes literacy. Generally in more developed parts of the world literacy rates are very high, according to the CIA Factbook, literacy rates in the US are 99%. Globally, 781 million adults and 126 million youth worldwide lack basic reading and writing skills, more than 60 per cent of them are women. There is good news though, gender gaps in youth literacy rates are narrowing. The U.S. as a world leader really needs to step up their game. We need to be a shining example if we expect the world to follow suite. A recent poll from the Media and Public Opinion Research Group asked Americans what they thought would lead to a more peaceful world. The overall answer, “more education and literacy”. Education and literacy allows individuals to become open to new ideas, making people more accepting. Furthering diplomacy worldwide leads to a healthier and happier future for the planet.

According to former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, “literacy is essential to the development and health of individuals, communities and countries. It is a condition for people’s effective participation in the democratic process. It is the basis for the written communication and literature that have long provided the main channel for cross-cultural awareness and understanding. And it is the most precious way we have of expressing, preserving and developing our cultural diversity and identity. Literacy, in short, is a prerequisite for peace.”

Whatever the hurdles may be, whether its budgetary or just plain laziness our attention as a society needs to be more concerned with education. We need to change the world through education by working together to better lives.