Brasília, April 20, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Beginning yesterday (19) and continuing through April 25, UNESCO is promoting the Global Action Week on the theme "Education for All." The organization intends to engage the entire world in a discussion of the need for everybody to receive a quality basic education.

For the official UNESCO representative in Brazil, Célio da Cunha, the challenge facing education in Brazil is to provide quality education so that every child can participate in the process of building a new society, in which "progress is based upon respect for diversity and human life," he declares.

The "Education for All" Global Action Week has arranged a visit by students to the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday (22) to attend a floor session. The children will tell the lawmakers what they think about education and how the legislators can help them in this campaign. The students will also present a message demanding quality education for everybody.

Besides involving students, UNESCO will also mobilize politicians, government officials, and civil society in joint operations with the National Campaign for the Right to Education during the Global Action Week. The Education for All Program supports the targets established by the World Education Forum, held in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000, when 180 countries pledged to guarantee free quality education to all children within a period of 15 years (by 2015).

Translator: David Silberstein