|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
  |
 |
  |
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks by J. Brady Anderson,
Education for Development and Democracy (EDDI) event
USAID Administrator
September 8, 2000
Thank you, Sarah -- Your Highness, Ambassador Kanya, Superintendent Kelley, Principal Payne, students of Fred Lynn Middle School -- good morning.
It's a pleasure to be here today.
We have heard it said many times that education is the key to just about everything: to building a better life for ourselves and our families, to getting a better job, and even to creating a better world -- a world where we celebrate our similarities even as we acknowledge and accept our differences.
In Africa, education plays a particularly important role. As my friend, the late Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania, once said, "Education is not a way to escape poverty, education is a way of fighting poverty."
We have learned that girls' education, in particular, is perhaps the single most important investment a developing country can make.
President Clinton has always been a strong supporter of girls' education, which is why in 1998 he created the Education for Democracy and Development Initiative, or EDDI, which has a special focus on girls' education.
As Administrator of the Agency for International Development, I too, have made girls' education a priority.
And so I am pleased to announce today EDDI's newest partnership: one between the Girls' Club of the Fred Lynn Middle School and the St. Michael's Girls School in Swaziland.
In this year's back to school proclamation, President Clinton said that "For America's students, the new school year is a time for learning, lessons, making friends, and setting goals."
And that, in fact, is exactly what this partnership will allow students from these two schools to do.
It will allow the students here today, and their counterparts in Swaziland, not just to study a culture different from their own, but to see that culture through the eyes of their new friends -- and that is the best kind of education.
We hope that they will learn that though they live half a world away, teenagers all over the world face a lot of the same challenges.
Perhaps most importantly, because these activities will be conducted largely over the Internet and by video-conferencing, it will help bridge the digital divide that today exists between the developed and developing world.
So to the students of Fred Lynn Middle School, let me wish you well as you begin this very interesting educational experience.
I hope this will be a fun way to learn about yourselves as you learn about others.
Thank you.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
 |
|||
Last Updated on: July 12, 2001 |
