New York Times op-ed lauds Bangladesh for investing in the most marginalised
United States, the richest and most powerful country has staggering levels of child poverty, which is one of its great moral stains; on Wednesday, it decided to scrub the stain with the final legislative approval of US President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, says a New York Times opinion piece written by columnist Nicholas Kristof.
"I wrote a bleak article for The Times suggesting that the country was 'bountiful primarily in misfortune.' I was right that Bangladesh faces huge challenges, not least climate change. But over all my pessimism was dead wrong, for Bangladesh has since enjoyed three decades of extraordinary progress," Kristof wrote.
Bangladesh's economy soared by seven to eight percent per year and economic growth rates rose steadily which was even faster than China's, according to the World Bank, the NYT op-ed published on March 10 said.
BANGLADESH'S SECRET WAS EDUCATING GIRLS
There are now more girls in high school in Bangladesh than boys which was a complete different scenario in the 1980s and now 98 percent of children complete elementary school, Kristof wrote.
Though Bangladesh has not had great political leaders, its investments in human capital created a dynamism that US could learn from, he further wrote.
Bangladesh in an inspiring story of reducing poverty -- with 25 million Bangladeshis lifted from poverty over 15 years, according to World Bank.
"Bangladesh reminds us that investing in marginalised children isn't just about compassion, but about helping a nation soar," Kristof wrote.
Bangladesh invested in its most underutilised assets which is the poor -- with a focus on the most marginalised and least productive, as that's where the highest returns would be, the opinion piece also said.
"And the same could be true in America. We're not going to squeeze much more productivity out of our billionaires, but we as a country will benefit hugely if we can help the one in seven American children who don't even graduate from high school," Kristof concluded.
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