On the first day of the new school term, new research
published by Save the Children reveals the prohibitive cost of school around the
world, often beyond the reach of many parents. In Liberia for example, sending one
child to school costs half the average income of £62. This means sending two
children would cost a full year's salary.

The research, "60 Million Girls", launched in advance of next week's UN Summit,
demonstrates that school fees are the biggest barrier to girls going to school. It
shows that if fees were abolished in just 13 sub-Saharan countries an extra 4.5
million children would immediately go to school. When Uganda abolished school fees
in 1997 the number of girls in school more than doubled within three years.

As many Governments do not have enough resources to financially support schools and
abolish school fees, Save the Children calls on world leaders attending the UN
Summit to commit to achieving the education Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by
ensuring all girls and boys complete a primary education by 2015.

A crucial first step to making this happen is for world leaders to enable school
fees to be abolished urgently by 2006. With 100 million children still denied an
education, 60 million of whom are girls, this is vital.

Fiona Weir, Director of Policy and Communications at Save the Children said: 'Giving
girls an education is one of the best ways to reduce poverty, malnutrition and
HIV/AIDS but unless world leaders act now, they will condemn yet another generation
to poverty. The UN Summit will be make or break. World leaders must show real
commitment to abolishing school fees as a crucial step to making this a reality." [Source: CRIN]

For more information, contact:
Save the Children UK
1 St. John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK
Tel: + 44 20 7012 6400; Fax: + 44 20 7012 6963
Email: education@savethechildren.org.uk
Website: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk

To know more about the 2005 World Summit, visit CRIN's website:
http://www.crin.org/mdgnews