埃迪丝·M·莱德勒（Edith M. Lederer）在联合国发表讲话：在饱受战争摧残的苏丹，一间闷热的六年级教室里，一位充满热情的教师正在为120名渴望学习的孩子们授课。其中有一位18岁的女孩：三年前，由于战争她被迫离开家乡，过早地嫁为人妇并成为母亲，但她依然决心完成自己的学业。
EDITH M. LEDERER UNITED NATIONS — In a stifling sixth grade classroom in war-torn Sudan , a very motivated teacher was giving a lesson to 120 very committed children. Among them: an 18-year-old girl uprooted three years ago by fighting, forced into marriage and motherhood too soon, but determined to finish her education.
“情况远比这更糟糕，”教育组织“Education Can’t Wait”的负责人梅莎·贾尔布特（Maysa Jalbout）在回忆她最近的那次学校访问时说。尽管教室内的温度高达44摄氏度（111华氏度），而且学校既没有水也没有电，但她仍恳求她：“请务必确保我的兄弟姐妹、表亲以及那些孤儿朋友们也能上学。”然而，由于学校空间有限，还有数百名孩子无法进入教室。这些孩子请求她和来访者们向联合国传递一个信息：希望政府能够建设更多的学校。贾尔布特表示，这正是她在本周联合国世界领导人年会上一直在呼吁的内容。
That wasn’t all, Maysa Jalbout, the director of Education Can’t Wait, recounted of her visit to the school a few weeks ago. Even with a classroom temperature of 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) and no water or electricity, “She pleaded with me to make sure that her siblings and her cousins and her orphan friends are also able to attend school.” But the school was so small that hundreds more kids waiting outside couldn’t get in, Jalbout said. They asked her and the other visitors to deliver a message to build more schools – and she said that’s what she has been urging at the U.N.’s annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations this week.
超过5亿亟需接受教育的儿童所处的困境，一直是此次会议讨论的重点议题之一；各方为解决这一问题而发起的筹款活动也取得了一定的成效。
The plight of the more than 500 million children in desperate need of an education has been one of the key issues on the sidelines of the meeting – and the appeal for money to make it possible is having some success.
前英国首相戈登·布朗（Gordon Brown）目前担任联合国全球教育事务特使。他周四指出，目前仍有2.73亿儿童无法上学，另有2.7亿儿童虽然在学校就读，但在11岁时仍无法掌握基本的读写能力和算术技能。这些儿童大多生活在受冲突或气候变化影响的地区。
Gordon Brown, the former British prime minister is now the U.N. special envoy for global education. He said Thursday that 273 million children are not in school and 270 million others are at school but aren’t learning enough to read and write or be proficient in arithmetic by age 11. Many of them are in areas affected by conflict or climate change, he said.
“我认为，这个信息非常明确，”他说，“我们不能让世界只在一些国家开发一部分儿童的潜力，而必须下定决心，在每个国家、任何时候都充分开发所有儿童的潜力。”
“The message, I think, is clear,” he said. “Instead of the world developing only some of the potential of some children in some countries, we must be determined to develop the potential of all children at all times in every country.”
他说，必须提醒那些本国儿童未能入学的政府，它们曾承诺将20%的支出用于教育；也必须提醒提供援助的国家，2015年它们承诺落实联合国发展目标，其中包括到2030年实现所有儿童都能享有优质教育。“我们距离这一目标仍然非常遥远。”
Governments whose children are not in school must be reminded, he said, that they promised 20% of their spending would go to education, and to remind countries giving aid that in 2015 they signed up for U.N. development goals including achieving quality education for all children by 2030. “We’re so far away from the goal.”
布朗表示，未能入学的儿童数量仍未下降，这令人失望，而且信息非常明确：“如果你剥夺一个孩子受教育的基本权利，你就是在做一件会影响其一生，甚至影响其身边整个家庭的事情。”不过，全球领导人的这次会议确实取得了一些成果。
Brown said it’s disappointing that the numbers of children not going to school isn’t falling and the message is clear: “If you deny a child the basic right to education , you are doing something that will affect their whole life and, indeed, the life of the family around them.” But the gathering of global leaders did produce some results.
全球教育伙伴关系组织表示，已从合作伙伴和基金中筹集35亿美元，用于支持90多个低收入国家改革教育体系，提供优质学习机会。
At an event Wednesday, the Global Partnership for Education said $3.5 billion was mobilized from partners and funds to support over 90 lower income countries in transforming their education system to provide quality learning.
其中，21亿美元来自各国政府和私人捐助方已经确认及预计作出的承诺，14亿美元来自联合融资——其中10亿美元来自开发性金融机构，4亿美元来自一个由慈善捐助方和私营部门合作伙伴组成且不断壮大的联盟。
It said $2.1 billion came from confirmed and anticipated pledges from governments and private donors, and $1.4 billion in co-financing -- $1 billion from development finance institutions and $400 million from a growing coalition of philanthropic and private sector partners.
尼日利亚总统博拉·蒂努布（Bola Tinubu）作为该公益活动的联合发起人表示，这些资金能够帮助“像尼日利亚这样充满活力和年轻活力的国家打破那些阻碍儿童（尤其是女孩）上学和接受教育的障碍，让她们充分发挥自己的潜力。”
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, co-host of the campaign, said the funding empowers “dynamic and youthful nations like Nigeria to break down the barriers that keep our children, especially our girls, out of school and away from learning, so they can achieve their full potential.”
由贾尔布特（Jalbout）领导的“教育不能等待”（Education Cannot Wait）组织专注于全球2.58亿受危机影响的适龄儿童——这一数字远远超过了该组织能够帮助到的儿童数量。她宣布将投入300万美元用于加沙和西岸地区的儿童援助，以帮助最多1.3万名最脆弱的儿童和青少年，其中优先考虑那些因冲突而受伤或残疾的儿童，以及那些失去父母、无人陪伴或与家人分离的儿童。
Education Cannot Wait, which Jalbout heads, focuses on the 258 million school-age children worldwide affected by crises – “far greater than the number that we are able to reach.” She announced a $3 million emergency investment for children in Gaza and the West Bank to help up to 13,000 of the most vulnerable children and adolescents — with priority given to those with conflict-related injuries and disabilities and to youngsters who have lost parents and are unaccompanied or separated.
目前，加沙地区的人均儿童截肢率是世界上最高的。贾尔布特指出：“对于这些孩子来说，生存仅仅是一个开始；一个在战争中幸存下来、失去肢体甚至失去家人的孩子，不应该因为我们的无力而为他们的未来埋下阴影。”然而，实际的需求远远超出了现有的资金规模。她表示，加沙仍有66万名儿童无法上学，其中约7万名最年幼的儿童无法接受学前教育。在其他地区，该组织还投入了100万美元，帮助尼泊尔最近遭受严重洪灾的儿童重新开始学习。
Gaza now has more child amputees per capita than anywhere in the world. “For these children,” Jalbout said, “survival is only the beginning — a child who has survived this war, lost a limb and perhaps lost their family should not also lose their future because we failed to organize around their needs.” But the enormous needs far outstrip the funds. For a third year, she said, 660,000 children remain out of school in Gaza, and some 70,000 of the youngest have no access to preschool. Elsewhere, she said, the organization gave $1 million to help children from Nepal’s recent devastating floods start learning again.
在她最近访问苏丹期间，她宣布将提供2200万美元的援助资金，以帮助数十万儿童；但事实上，苏丹仍有800万名儿童未能上学。
During her recent Sudan trip, she said she announced $22 million in funding to help several hundred thousand children — but there are 8 million youngsters out of school.
埃迪丝·M·莱德勒（Edith M. Lederer）为美联社（The Associated Press）从事国际事务报道已有半个多世纪的时间。
Edith M. Lederer has covered international affairs for The Associated Press for more than a half century.