School is something many of us take for granted. A good education gave us a fair start in life; it opened up doors and created opportunities to help us achieve our dreams. Without school, we wouldn’t be who we are today.  Whether it was the start of a lifelong passion, a career or even a best friend, we have all benefited from the most basic opportunities that education provides.

Every day, 57 million children are deprived of their right to a basic education due to a major lack of funding. The number of out of school children is on the rise while funding for basic education is declining.  If we don’t invest in education now then we will miss a unique opportunity to lift millions of people out of poverty by giving them the basic life skills they need like reading, writing and math.

One Month From Today

In exactly one month from today, world leaders are being called upon to commit funds to education at the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Second Replenishment Conference on June 26, 2014 in Brussels.  On this monumental day, GPE is gathering the world’s education leaders to make the following commitments:  1) donor countries contribute US$3.5 billion to the GPE Fund which will support education for 29 million children 2) developing countries increase domestic financing for education to an average of at least 20% of national domestic expenditure and 3) increase bilateral, multilateral and new innovative funding for the poorest countries to fill remaining gaps.

In the past decade, the Global Partnership for Education helped get 22 million children into school by working with developing countries, including 10 million girls. Now the Global Partnership is working with more developing countries than ever and has the momentum to change more lives than it ever has before.

But All That Can Be Lost

Over the past year, 1.5 million people voted a good education as their number one priority in the United Nations MYWorld survey. It’s time to remind the world why it’s important to invest in the one thing that citizens want most.  Tell the world what you’ve achieved #BecauseOfSchool, what your education gave you or how it helped you become who you are today.

Share your #BecauseOfSchool Story on Social Media

• Take a picture of something special in your life which was only possible #BecauseOfSchool
• Send a message, tweet or post about what you have achieved or can achieve #BecauseOfSchool
• Find an old photo of yourself for “Throwback Thursday” on May 29, June 5, 12, 19 or 26 and tag #BecauseOfSchool and #ThrowBackThursday
• Share your organization’s results or successes which were made possible #BecauseOfSchool
• Write your #BecauseOfSchool message on a blackboard or notepad and take a picture
• Take a selfie with your best friend whom you met #BecauseOfSchool