A. continue B. control C. countries D. dynamic E. emphasize F. ignore G. inequalities H. invisible I. numbers J. relatively K. school L. significant M. undoubtedly N. unlocks O. weak As governments gather for the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, their agenda is dominated by the state of the global economy and its impact. These issues are 1 of critical importance, but a global crisis that rarely makes headlines, the crisis in education, will be once again pushed to the sidelines. The global crisis in education is a silent, 2 crisis, perhaps because those most immediately affected—the world’s poorest and weakest children and their parents—have a 3 voice. But it is risky that we 4 the overwhelming evidence that disadvantage in education costs lives, impairs economic growth, fuels youth unemployment, and reinforces national and global 5 . The bottom line is that education holds the key to the development of more 6 economies, greater social mobility, and poverty reduction. Education is the key that 7 human potential and prepares future generations to participate in an increasingly knowledge-based global economy. We merely have to look at the 8 to grasp the scale of the crisis. There are 68 million primary school age children out of school, and global progress towards university primary education has slowed since 2005. If current trends 9 , the out-of-school population could increase to 72 million by 2015. Another 71 million adolescents are out of 10 , many of them lacking a basic education. And while governments across the world are concerned about the quality of education, the evidence on learning achievement levels in many of the poorest countries is profoundly disturbing.