CIAO DATE: 10/2008
May 2007
The Global Campaign for Education (GCE)'s new report shows a significant fall in rich country aid to funding basic education in the poor world. The report shows that the US, Japan, Germany and Italy are the most miserly of the rich countries, collectively giving just 10% of what is needed to keep their own promises of every person having the chance of an education by 2015.
Entitled, 'Not up to Scratch,' the 2007 annual school report ranks the 22 world's richest OECD countries, and holds them to account for their promises on aid for education. George Bush, President of the wealthiest country in the world comes a shocking 20th in the class, followed only by Greece and Austria who trail at the very bottom of the class.
Germany's Angela Merkel, current 'class captain' of the EU and G8 will need to significantly pull up her aid socks and find the additional $472 million needed each year to fulfill her promise. Currently leading the G8 on aid for education, the UK comes fourth in the class overall, with a B average. Top of the class is the Netherlands and Norway.
According to the report, aid to basic education is less than a third of the amount required to achieve even the minimal target of getting all children into school. Reaching $9 billion annually would at least give the 80 million children currently denied an education, the chance to go to primary school. And a bigger challenge is on the horizon; none of the G8 nations is anywhere near giving its fair share of the total $16 billion needed per year to reach their own Education for All (EFA) goals which include tackling adult literacy and pre-school education, and to help orphans and vulnerable children.
"Giving only 39% of her fair share to basic education is simply not good enough for this important nation. Angela Merkel needs to show better leadership if she's to encourage her G8 and EU classmates to make the team effort needed. If the G8 leaders pulled their finger out, kept their promise and provided $5 billion, this would enable 75% of all out of school children to go to school. Seven countries could make that happen. That same amount is what is spent in 5 weeks on subsidizing farmers in Europe via the EU Common Agriculture Policy." Kailash Satyarthi (President of GCE)
Resource link: Not up to Scratch: Global Campaign for Education - School Report 2007 [PDF] - 1.4M
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