Whether you were an overachiever, the class clown, or a jock, I’m sure that you remember the impact school had on your life.

Access to education opens doors. This is proven dramatically for people living in extreme poverty. According to UNESCO, every additional year of schooling increases a person’s earnings by 10%. And, a child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live past age 5.

Despite this, 62 million adolescent girls around the world are not in school.

Education is incredibly important to a child’s success, especially girls. Children caught in crisis situations, whether from natural disaster or human conflict, are increasingly left out of education funding initiatives by global donors. Children in conflict made up 36 percent of out-of-school children in the world in 2012.

In 2015, the global community can unlock the power of millions of girls by sending them to school.

Just last week in Norway, Prime Minister Erna Solberg hosted the Oslo Education Summit and announced a new financing commission for education chaired by Gordon Brown, the former British Prime Minister.  One of the goals of the Oslo Education Summit was to revitalize political will towards providing universal education to all children. It has joined a trend.

Yesterday, First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama spoke at the Girl Up Leadership Summit and called for the global community to ensure that all adolescent girls have access to quality education. Michelle Obama spoke about how being unable to afford tuition, living too far away from a school, lack of access to sanitation, and early marriages can keep girls out of school.

“Think about what it would feel like to see your brothers and male cousins go to school while you are stuck at home,” she explained. Michelle Obama highlighted that all of the talents and ambitions of girls locked out of school is, “going to waste.”

Incredible leaders like Michelle Obama understand that, to see the end of extreme poverty, the world must ensure that every child can go to school for 12 full years. To make this happen, the globally community needs $39 billion USD annually to fully fund its commitments.

It is time to get serious about this goal. The world needs leaders to commit to getting adolescent girls into school.

Today, Global Poverty Project is teaming up with Coldplay to call on countries including Norway to increase their pledges for global education and to join us at the Global Citizen Festival to announce their pledges. Norway is a global leader on education and it’s time for them to lead again.

Send a tweet calling on Norway to lead the world in improving access to education in TAKE ACTION NOW.