Poor Student From Cebu Gets Attention From UN Official

Last month, we’ve all seen the inspiring yet heart-wrenching photo of 9-year-old Daniel Cabrera.

This diligent little boy from Cebu City, Philippines is shown in the picture studying and doing his homework under a lamp post at a nearby fast food store. It’s touching how this young student was determined to learn despite the fact that they didn’t have their own electricity at home.

His photo has gone viral online and many media practitioners even featured his story, helping tell the poor boy’s moving tale to even more people across the world.

Despite the difficulties of life, 9-year-old Daniel Cabrera stays determined to study.

Eventually, the story reached Gordon Brown himself – the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the current United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education.

Brown observed that the image perfectly “encapsulates the great paradox of global education today.” The problem, according to him, is that “more young people than ever before realize the importance of the right to education but too few adults are making that right into a reality.”

He further expounded:

“Against the odds, Daniel is fighting hard to get an education. At school he is considered a lively, studious and inquiring pupil and is clearly driven to continue learning outside the classroom, no matter what the conditions. But are we doing enough to help him and millions like him?”

Brown shared alarming statistics that remind us that “Daniel is not alone” in this awful situation.

According to his report:

1. 59 million primary-age children are not at school (and may never get the chance to study at all)
2. Yearly aid for education has experience a massive drop of 22% over the past 4 years from $4.5 billion to $3.5 billion.
3. 90% of primary school children in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity.

Case in point, it’s not enough for netizens to simply share Daniel’s story online. We should all do something and help out. There are many Daniels out there and we can all make a difference in the lives of these poverty-stricken pupils.

H/T: Rappler

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