Global Action Week calls on governments to vote for Education
This week, 26 April-2 May, the 2015 Global Action Week takes place under the rallying theme: “The Right to Education 2000-2030 - Vote for Education!” This is to remind governments of their promise to provide quality education for all.
In 2000, the world’s leaders made a series of promises intended to guarantee education for all by 2015. While significant progress has been made, it is clear that these promises will not be met.
This year, the world will agree new development frameworks and governments will make a new set of promises.
The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) believes that it is critical that civil society holds politicians accountable for the progress and failings of the last 15 years, demands that these promises are honoured, and has a say in what is being promised to make the right to education a reality by 2030.
The GCE, via this year’s Global Action Week (GAW), is asking politicians, representing their citizens at the World Education Forum in May in Acheon, Korea, and the UN General Assembly in September in New York, USA, to “Vote for Education”.
Why should governments Vote for Education?
It is vital that governments prioritise education because:
- Education is the top concern of citizens globally, based on the United Nations’ My World 2015 Survey, in which seven million people worldwide participated.
- Education is a fundamental human right, and it must be at the core of any development framework.
- Education is the responsibility of the state - there must be free and public education accessible to all.
- Education is fundamental to development: education saves lives, improves health, leads to faster growth, increases tolerance, and raises awareness of the world we live in.
Vehicles for change
The GAW is one of the major focal points for those who support the Education For All movement, as it provides every national and regional education campaign with an opportunity to highlight one area of the Education for All agenda. It is also an opportunity to make targeted efforts to achieve change on the ground, with the added support of education campaigners and millions of people worldwide joining together for the same cause.
The GCE, of which Education International was a founding member, is a civil society movement working to end the global education crisis and make sure that nation states act to deliver a free, quality public education to everyone.
