Pearson, the education juggernaut that recently sold two media outlets for nearly $2 billion, is planning to spend over $2.3 billion on education across the globe.
According NPR.org, Pearson’s CEO, Don Kilburn, plans to invest a considerable amount of money to strengthen its position as a global education leader.
“In recent years, we’ve developed an increasing focus on our biggest, most exciting opportunity — to help people make progress in their lives through learning … it’s become clear to me and the Pearson board that the scale of the challenge requires our undivided attention.”
The article further articulates the company’s position on education as it highlights just how much Pearson spends on education annually.
Pearson spends $1 trillion “each year on education – most of it public money” globally. That is an astonishing amount of money and an amount that most people are likely not aware of.
But Pearson has faced criticism as of late due to lost contracts and its relationship to Common Core. No matter to Pearson, though, as their plans will not change and they will just continue to roll out educational materials.
Kilburn says that the company plans to invest more into bringing education into underprivileged areas and continuing to develop public-private partnerships so that more students will have the ability to attend college. I sincerely hope that this is true and not just something said to generate good press.
This is, of course, just the start of the company’s strategy. But based on where Kilburn wants to take the organization, this certainly seems like a giant leap in the right direction.
