Items of interest

Amartya Sen, master of Trinity College, Cambridge, is honorary president of Oxfam. He received the Nobel Prize in economics in 1998. In a column in The New York Times (May 27, 2002) entitled "To Build a Country, Build a Schoolhouse," Sen notes the urgency for universal education:

"Isaiah Berlin has argued: 'Men do not live only by fighting evils. They live by positive goals.' The advice was not aimed at the leaders of the war on terror: Berlin was speaking more than 40 years ago. But his idea is worth the attention of current world leaders. And one of the most important positive goals has already been identified by the United Nations: universal primary education by 2015....

"This contribution of basic education to development is not. . . confined to economic progress. Education has intrinsic importance; the capability to read and write can deeply influence one's quality of life. Also, an educated population can make better use of democratic opportunities than an illiterate one. . . .

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