[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 14, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H349-H350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     INTERNATIONAL BASIC EDUCATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POMEROY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform my colleagues that 
I, along with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Green), will this 
afternoon be briefly addressing the importance of an issue we care 
passionately about: children's education, children's basic education, 
girls' education, and our U.S. international assistance dollars in 
helping developing countries make schools and educational opportunities 
available.
  Last Congress I had the privilege of serving on the House Committee 
on International Relations. From that position, I began to focus on 
identifying which foreign aid dollars could actually make a lasting 
difference and bring systemic changes in the areas that we are trying 
to help.
  Too often we are just late to the crime scene. Whether it is famine, 
war,

[[Page H350]]

epidemic, we are just trying to pick up after the catastrophe has 
already occurred. We need to commit our scarce foreign assistance 
dollars in ways that help bring lasting improvements, build better 
opportunities, and prevent these cycles of tragedy.
  As I researched the question, I became convinced of the value of one 
development investment in particular: international basic education. I 
was intrigued to learn that educating children, particularly making a 
special effort to get girls into schools, because so often they are not 
allowed to participate, yields a higher rate of return than virtually 
any other effort we can make in the international developing world.
  The data seemed almost too good to be true. With increased education, 
women live healthier lives. They marry later, live longer, have fewer 
children, and their children have vastly superior survival rates. The 
data compiled by the World Bank and other international organizations 
report that for every year of education a little girl receives beyond 
grade four, there is a 10 percent reduction in family size, a 15 
percent drop in child malnutrition, a 10 percent reduction in infant 
mortality, and up to a 20 percent increase in wages and microenterprise 
development.
  The statistics support what economists and development experts 
already know: educating children, again especially girls, creates a 
powerful impact, improving the lives of little children, subsequently 
improving the lives of their families, and improving the lives 
resulting later in the villages and the entire communities.
  After hearing all this, I had a strong desire to actually see some of 
these schools, see our U.S. assistance dollars in action; and so along 
with my colleague, the gentleman from Green Bay, Wisconsin (Mr. Green), 
we made a bipartisan effort sponsored by some of the NGOs that are 
implementing these assistance dollars to look firsthand to see how this 
was working.
  Our trip left me with a rock-solid conviction that the data on girls 
education is correct. In both Ghana and Mali, our taxpayer dollars have 
made a significant difference in the lives of children and families. 
And even more effectively than the dollars that are used, we were 
struck by the deep commitment in terms of USAID officials, the 
professionals in the NGO community implementing these programs, the 
families and the personnel from the countries making these little 
schools run themselves. This is driving systemic change in these areas.
  We visited many classrooms, spoke to parents and community leaders 
and learned firsthand of the changes being made. This picture reflects 
a meeting with parents we had in a very small rural village. This 
individual, the village hunter, the one responsible for bagging the 
game to feed the village, told us that with the children even getting 
basic primary education, the cotton traders buying their products can 
no longer cheat them by the scales. They use the children to make 
certain they get a fair deal. Time and time again we heard of this kind 
of change.
  We heard from parents that now children can help them find when they 
are buying medicine that has already got expiration dates; they will 
help them watch for expiration dates on foods and help them write 
letters; that schools are a safe place for them to be. They no longer 
have to worry about the children when they go to market.
  We heard from the village chief and president of a parents' 
association tell us that educating a little girl is like lighting a 
dark room. He said that their school is giving priority to girls' 
participation in enrollment, making a difference for the first time in 
bringing girls into primary education and the opportunities that flow 
from that. The parents told us that once the girls learn to read and 
write they teach others in the family and they become better mothers. 
Even in a young teenager's years, they are doing it.
  I just want to, in closing, show you one of the little girls 
participating in one of the schools that we observed. This little girl 
wants to be a doctor and help others in her community. Her chances 
without our assistance dollars would be a million to one. But with our 
assistance dollars, this dream is possible.
  We need to continue our commitment in this area, and I am very 
pleased to work with the gentleman from Wisconsin and others in a 
bipartisan effort to continue to support this work.

                          ____________________