Bono gives weight to proposed US education bill

WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) Rock singer Bono threw his weight behind legislation proposed by a group of Democrats and Republicans, including presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton, that would boost funding for free basic education for some of the world's poorest children.

The Education for All bill was announced yesterday by New York Democratic lawmakers Clinton and Nita Lowey, and Republicans Gordon Smith and Spencer Bachus.

The legislation would double US funding for basic education to 1 billion dollars in fiscal 2008 and then gradually increase it annually until it reached 3 billion dollars by 2012.

''This is mind-blowing stuff and this is the real moment,'' Bono, frontman for band U2, said from Dublin, where he joined a joint conference call with the US lawmakers. ''This is the kind of vision that we look to from America.'' Bono said there were 38 million children out of school in Africa, which he said was roughly the number of middle school children in the United States.

''It's a really big idea we're listening to today -- it's the idea of putting every child in school who wants to go, with a clear and credible plan.'' Bono, who has used his celebrity to campaign for funding for Africa and debt cancellation for debt-burdened poor nations, said he felt personally responsible to ensure that money provided such initiatives was properly spent.

He said he would campaign in the next few months to get countries in Europe and elsewhere to match the U.S. proposal.

The legislation comes ahead of a high-level meeting of donor in Brussels today to increase funding for a global program to provide basic education for poor children by 2015.

Clinton said the proposed U.S. legislation strongly supported global targets to halve poverty by 2010 and would ensure the U.S.

coordinated its efforts with other donors for maximum impact.

Lowey, a member of the US House of Representatives, said U.S.

involvement in global education efforts was important to develop free societies and against ''teachings and recruitment of terrorist organizations.'' ''Today education is a national security issue. It's the one place we can turn back the spiraling tide of fanaticism,'' she added.

REUTERS SYU ND0856