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Think about it: Every educated person is not rich, but almost every education person has a job and a way out of poverty. So education is a fundamental solution to poverty.

I believe that poverty is often the result of inappropriate behavior - out-of-wedlock births, dropping out of school, crime and drugs - which should not be rewarded. But often it isn't, and common decency requires that we take care of the least of these.

I have been very strongly advocating that poverty must not be used as an excuse to continue child labour. It perpetuates poverty. If children are deprived of education, they remain poor.

I am deeply concerned about the impact of poverty on children because poverty can destroy their future and bind them to a life of misery.

Poverty is a very complicated issue, but feeding a child isn't.

Poverty is about people lacking the tools they need to get on in life. And solving it is about tackling educational failure, antisocial behaviour, debt problems and addiction, and of course it's about work.

People have to take control of their own lives. Education is key because it also raises other social indicators like healthcare.

All countries have poor people. Yet it's a very rare country which understands the indignities of poverty, while education systems maintain the status quo. The children of the elite go to the best schools and get the best jobs, not because they are the best. We're not taking advantage of the intellectual power on this planet.

Poverty is not inevitable. It is a human ill that we can fight if we decide to do so together.

I can't solve the poverty problem, but there are things you can do to mitigate its effects on kids.