Annan plea for girls' schooling

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for girls around the world to be given access to schooling.

Mr Annan's comments follow the publication of a report by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), which reveals that 65 million girls around the world are not attending school.

Mr Annan said: "If we are to succeed in our efforts to build a more healthy, peaceful and equitable world, the classrooms of the world have to be full of girls as well as boys.

The GCE estimates that a $5.6bn (£3.8bn) donation by wealthy governments each year would be enough to provide universal schooling.

A spokesman said: "Getting girls into school is literally a matter of life and death.

The children of women who have completed primary education are on average twice as likely to survive beyond the age of five, and half as likely to suffer from malnutrition.

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Sourced from: BBC Education online