While cash may be a little tight around the holiday season, there are some basic expenses most families don't have to budget for. That includes, for example, having to pay fees every day simply for our children to go to school.

But in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where I am today, thousands of struggling moms and dads are still paying school fees even although the country's government has ordered them to be abolished and is fully committed to free school education.

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The costs indeed are daunting and might deter a government less committed than today's DRC President, Prime Minister and Education Minister. But as they recognize, the consequences of doing nothing are far, far worse. The U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.K. Department for International Development recently signed an agreement to implement a bold, five-year $180 million program to help nearly half a million children in the DRC go to school and another 1.4 million learn to read by 2020. The Global Partnership for Education has also recently joined the coalition now assembling to back the education ambitions of the DRC with $100 million over four years.

But the international community will need to do more in the new year if, by December 2015, no child is to be denied the right to go to school or to face a closed classroom door because her parents are not able to pay a fee.

Read the full article at Huffington Post