Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, announced their plan to donate $120 million to San Francisco Bay Area schools on Thursday, according to Boston.com.
The couple made their announcement in an op-ed published in The San Jose Mercury News, where they expressed their desire to help economically disadvantaged school systems. They argued that "the world's most innovative community shouldn't also be a home for struggling public schools."
"Helping improve the quality of public education in this country is something we both really care about. Priscilla has devoted her life to helping children from underserved communities as a pediatrician and as a teacher. I've been engaged with education issues over the past few years, and last year I taught an after-school program on entrepreneurship at a public middle school in the Belle Haven community of Menlo Park," their op-ed said.
Chan, a former teacher, is currently a pediatric resident at the University of California, San Francisco.
The generous gift will be made through the Startup:Education fund, which gives educators the resources they need to help students and create innovative classrooms, over the next five years.
The money will also be used to provide computers, train teachers, and hold leadership training for principles, Boston.com said.
This is not the first time Zuckerberg has pledged money to the public school system. In 2010, he donated $100 million to the public schools in Newark, New Jersey, which he claims has already shown positive results.
Zuckerberg and Chan said their donation is a small step in the right direction when it comes to education policy in the U.S.
"Education is something worth investing in and if we can help make things better it will make all of our lives better," they wrote.
Zuckerberg, who is the world's 21st richest person with a net worth of $28 billion, is one of the youngest members of The Giving Pledge -- promising to give at least half of his worth to charity.
