Education key to eradicating global poverty

Nearly, 800 million people across the world are facing extreme poverty. They also have no access to education and other basic human necessities. Developed and developing countries are still spending on weapons and military rather than on education and poverty eradication.

Take the example of India. The country spends a staggering $55 billion on its defence sector annually, even when 270 million Indians live below the poverty line.

The amounts are also in the same range for other developed countries of the world. Though developing countries have lower defence expenditure, the funds are almost always more than their annual budget for education.

As so much money is being spent on weapons and defence sector, it is only a matter of time before a war breaks out. It has been seen in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria that warmongering never helps.

Darkness cannot dispel darkness. Only the light of education can improve the state of the poor across the world. I hope this realisation will dawn on the leaders of the world sooner rather than later.

Saiful Islam

Baridhara DOHS, Dhaka