Education--key to development.

• Position: OAS

EDUCATION MINISTERS from around the hemisphere said education must become "the central priority of development" in the coming decades and called for new strategies to increase available funding.

The Third Meeting of Ministers of Education, held in Mexico City last August, stressed the role of education in promoting social equity, fighting poverty, and fostering democratic values. The ministers renewed their commitment to reach the educational goals established through the Summits of the Americas, including a guarantee that by 2010 all girls and boys have access to high-quality education through the primary level and that a quality secondary education is available to at least 75 percent of all young people.

"We have assumed the commitment of educating the present and future generations to ensure they are able to participate in a globalized environment and to construct a hemisphere in which no child is left behind," they affirmed in their Declaration of Mexico.

The ministers recommended that their governments explore financial strategies, including partnerships between the public and private sectors, to increase investment in education, and promote a more efficient use of resources.

"In addition, several among us consider it worthwhile to explore the possibility of debt-for-education swaps. We recognize that such initiatives must be developed in coordination...