The waiting is over. For the first time, the FIFA World Cup 2010 being held in Africa is marked by an equally historic legacy - Education For All. FIFA committed to make education the lasting legacy of the World Cup by supporting an international campaign called 1GOAL: Education For All led by the Global Campaign for Education.

 
In Bangladesh, Campaign for Popular Education arranged the screening of the World Cup’s first match in 63 districts of Bangladesh including the capital city of Bangladesh.
 

These programs were participated by District Commissioners, officials from administration and other government departments, elected members of parliament, youth groups, sports club, students, community leaders, civil society groups, renowned public figures NGO representatives and general mass as expression of solidarity.

 
CAMPE partners at the local level also arranged rally, press meeting, cultural programs to create a festive mood before the opening match. In some places mock matches were played by young boys and girls and the winning team was awarded with a trophy.

In Dhaka, the first match was screened in Bangabandhu Stadium in cooperation with Bangladesh Football Federation, Plan Bangladesh and Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF). About 15000 thousand people enjoyed the screening and raised voice demanding Education for All.

CAMPE also launched an extensive campaign in print and electronic media in partnership with CSEF and Grameen Phone LTD. As a partner of the 1Goal, campaign Grameen Phone Ltd also launched SMS Campaign across the country to take the campaign at the doors of the people. About 2 million people already joined to this campaign, which is growing more day by day.

As the civil society-led 1GOAL campaign reached its climax in Bangladesh with the 1 Goal campaign gaining more and more popularity it is high time that the national governments of developing countries act seriously.

As a result of the campaign, on 6 June 2010, South African President Jacob Zuma and Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA, announced that the 1GOAL Education Summit will take place on 7 July. The summit offers world leaders the chance to draw up a roadmap to make sure that every child is in school by the next FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Click here to see more pictures of the events organized as part of "1Goal: Education for All" campaign.