Making the Millennium Development Goals a reality

“The promotion of education is the most urgent requirement of our time. No nation can achieve prosperity unless it makes education one of its central concerns. Education brings honor, independence and freedom to a government and its people.” FM, 16 years old

FM teaching his Sunday morning class a song.

Every Sunday morning, Supawat, nicknamed FM, teaches a class full of five- to 12-year-olds in the Yasothon province of Thailand about reading and writing, art and crafts, and music. And most important of all, he says, the children in his Sunday classes learn about the importance of an education.

FM believes that it is the community’s duty to provide an education to every child, especially when the family is not able to afford the expense. Every year, he helps coordinate the Yasothon Children’s Festival, where students get together and share what they have learned.

MDG 2 says that by 2015, children everywhere will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. FM believes that universal education is a goal worth striving for. “Every child must be educated,” he says. “This is not a matter that can be neglected.”

The children in his Sunday classes learn that if they want to serve others, they should have knowledge and study hard, with an eye to the future. Their knowledge should always be used for the good of mankind.

FM knows that some children are not fortunate enough to have access to education. He hopes that this will one day change. The real goal of education, he says, is to guide people on the path to peace and unity.