Last week, I had the fantastic opportunity to attend a meeting at the United Nations about strategies for increasing access to education. The Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed out some amazing key chains and letter openers designed by Korean artisans, which was pretty cool.

Door prizes aside, the best part of this meeting was the opportunity to hear from leaders like Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who are so passionate about ensuring that all kids get to go to school. The Secretary-General told his story of growing up in South Korea and studying under a tree with resources created and donated by the United Nations.

The Secretary-General explained that, “global citizenship education is key to mutual understanding and decreasing radicalization.” Back in April 2000, world leaders came together in Dakar, Senegal to develop six comprehensive Education for All (EFA) goals. Over the past 15 years, the international community has placed a huge amount of focus on getting all kids into school. The progress has been remarkable but there are still around 58 million kids who never get to go to school and 250 million kids can’t read, write or count.

As the 2015 targets draw to a close, it is really important for the global community to work together to review the status of EFA and set a holistic post 2015 education agenda that will ensure all kids have the opportunity to go to school.

In May, world leaders will come together in South Korea for the World Education Forum (WEF). This forum will provide a unique platform for global leaders in education, policy makers, and advocates to measure successes and work together on a plan for the post-2015 development agenda. Already, representatives of 64 countries are confirmed to attend the World Education Forum!

Over the next few months, Global Poverty Project will be working closely with partners like RESULTS and Global Campaign for Education to build support for the Global Partnership for Education. If we want to get every kid into school, countries like the United States and Korea will need to increase their financial support for the Global Partnership for Education. Join us now by signing the petition calling on world leaders to increase support for global education!