New study proposes ways to close funding gap for education
EI has welcomed new figures released on 15 March by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). These figures show that it is possible to make basic education universal by 2015, despite a global funding gap which increased to $26 billion from $16 billion during the past three years.
Funding gap impacts on Education for All
“While $26 billion sounds like a large gap to fill, the analysis shows that it is possible to raise the resources,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova in a new policy paper, ‘Making Education for All affordable by 2015 and beyond’.
The gap impacts on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on universal primary education which world leaders agreed to achieve by 2015.
Governments must keep their promises in financing education
Bokova added that “in 2000, donor governments promised that no country would be prevented from achieving Education for All by a lack of resources. Alongside national governments, donors must now step up their efforts to make sure finance is not the obstacle that stands in the way of helping all children go to school.”
According to data in the policy paper, if governments and donors directed 20 per cent of their budgets to education, the move would raise $12 billion. In addition, the authors suggest that instead of sending students from developing countries to study in donor countries, some of the funds could be spent on developing education systems in those countries.
UNESCO also urges donors to fulfil commitments already made, writing that if Europeans agreed to allocate 0.7 per cent of their gross national income to aid, a further $1.3 billion per year could be made available for education.
Meanwhile, developing countries could raise $7.3 billion by improving their tax systems and making better use of their natural resources, with a proportion directed towards education.
“Combined, these changes could reduce the annual gap for basic education from $26 billion to just $3.4 billion. If philanthropic organisations gave the same amount to basic education as they currently give to health, the gap could be filled,” according to UNESCO.
Public authorities to spend at least 6 per cent of their GDP on education
“This report is good news,” said EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “It urges us, education trade unionists, to make our voice heard and to continue our efforts to achieve quality education for all worldwide. We can do it!”
He also stressed that the EI Policy paper on education: Building the Future through Quality Education, adopted in 2011 highlights the fact that “public authorities should spend at least 6 per cent of their GDP on education.”
The policy paper was submitted to the Global Meeting on Education in the Post-2015 Development Agenda in Dakar, Senegal.
The meeting’s plenary sessions were livestreamed on http://www.worldwewant2015.org/education2015.
You can also read the discussions held at the meeting via twitter @Education2015UN.
