WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) have introduced a simple resolution in the Senate supporting the role of the United States in ensuring children in the poorest countries have access to a quality education through the Global Partnership for Education. The resolution was presented in recognition of World Teacher’s Day.

Unlike a bill, a simple resolution is only passed through the Senate and does not become law. Instead, simple resolutions are used to express a non-binding position of the Senate or deal with the Senate’s internal affairs.

This simple resolution, S.Res. 286, identifies numerous data points related to education and global poverty. The 2016 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report found an estimated 263 million children out of school. The 2015 GEM report identified that two-thirds of children out of school were living in countries affected by conflict.

Other statistics show that educated mothers are more likely to have their children vaccinated, every year of school decreases a male youth’s chances in engaging in violence by 20 percent and educating all students in developing countries could lead to 171 million people being lifted out of poverty.

These statistics support the U.S. goal of improving education around the world. Much of this work is done in partnership with the Global Partnership for Education.

The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is the only private-public global partnership exclusively dedicated to education in the world’s poorest countries. Established in 2002, the GPE aims to strengthen education systems in developing countries in order to increase the number of children attending school. This is done by bringing together developing countries, international organizations, civil society and the private sector.

Today, the GPE is working to help achieve U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 4, which is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

The GPE works with more than 60 developing country partners containing approximately 870 million total children and 78 percent of the world’s out-of-school children. The U.S. has contributed more than $198 million since joining the GPE as a partner country in 2009..

If passed, the resolution will express four positions held by the Senate in relation to education, poverty and the GPE. These positions include:

Affirmation of U.S. leadership and commitment to providing quality education for the poorest and most marginalized children in the world.

Supporting the mission and goals of the GPE.

Recognizing that U.S. investments in bilateral basic education are complemented by GPE’s approach.

Encouraging increased investment by the U.S. and other entities through the GPE to ensure children are in school throughout the world.

Upon introducing the resolution, Sen. Booker expressed pride in being able to come together with Sen. Rubio to highlight the Senate’s bipartisan commitment to ensuring U.S. leadership in supporting global access to education.

The resolution has been referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where it will be heard before potentially moving to the Senate floor.

– Erik Beck

Photo: Flickr