Foreign aid

Regarding “Exhibiting strength; America needs to continue to show the world our heart in the form of humanitarian aid” (Page A16, May 26), as a current medical student who has reaped the rewards of 21 years of education and still counting, I am alarmed by the fact that millions of children worldwide do not receive even one year of education and are faced with early employment and illness.

As the White House looks to slash foreign aid, an appalling 263 million children have never made it to school this year. Education is every child’s basic human right. It enables children to pursue bright and healthy futures for themselves and their future children. Each year of schooling can increase a person’s lifetime earnings by 10 percent and decrease a girl’s chance of contracting HIV, of being targeted for violence, and of early marriage.

The Global Partnership for Education (GPE), a partnership dedicated to educating the world’s lowest-income countries, is now fundraising for a plan to give 25 million more children quality education. This plan will enable 19 million more children completing primary school, 6.6 million more students completing secondary school, 1.7 million more teachers receive training, and 23,800 new classrooms built.

The United States has invested in GPE in previous years, and this year, the urgency is greater than ever. Now is the time to charge forward, not back down. Katharine Yang, Houston