Fifteen years ago, on 26th April 2000, the 2000 World Education Forum opened in Dakar. At that gathering, 164 governments, along with multilateral agencies, civil society organizations and other education stakeholders, committed to realize universal, quality education by 2015, through the achievement of six specific Education For All (EFA) goals.
26 April 2015 not only marks the 15th anniversary of this forum, it was also the first day of the Global Campaign for Education’s Global Action Week 2015. During this week, civil society campaigns in around 100 countries are mobilizing millions of citizens to demand both that their governments meet the – still unfulfilled – pledges they made in Dakar in 2000, and that they agree to an ambitious set of commitments and framework for education beyond 2015: in short, that their governments ‘vote for education’.
2015 as a moment for accountability and action
There is a powerful urgency about using this moment to highlight was has been done – or not – and to demand more. If governments commit to taking serious action, the dreams of young people like Kalpana Kurmi of Sylhet in Bangladesh can become a reality.
Kalpana was born in 2000, the year of the Dakar promise to realize education for all, but she was forced to give up school because her parents could not afford it. She says: “If I could continue my education, I would like to become a teacher. I always dreamt that I would some day help remove illiteracy from society, especially in our community.” That is also the vision that the world committed to, but one it has not yet achieved.
The Global Campaign for Education was founded to provide a unified platform for civil society voices in Dakar, and has since then grown as a global movement in large part because of the desire of civil society activists around the world to hold their governments to account for these promises. In this context, our movement is determined to use this year to call attention to the unfinished business of the EFA goals, to draw lessons from the successes and the failures of achieving EFA, and to ensure that the world agrees to an ambitious, effective, comprehensive, rights-based framework for education over the next 15 years.
Global citizen action
Global Action Week activities are taking many forms, but all aim to ensure that citizen voices and perspectives are heard.
Some GCE member coalitions are presenting “shadow reports” on progress towards EFA since 2000, including for example the Foro por el Derecho a la Educación in Chile and the Palestine Coalition for Education For All. E-Net Philippines has been holding citizen consultations on EFA progress, and is presenting findings in the form of a civil society “scorecard”.
Many coalitions are gathering, and communicating to their governments, citizen aspirations for the future of education: Colectivo de Educación para Todas y Todos in Guatemala, for example, is using community radio to host discussions of education progress and future needs. Coalition National Malagasy de l’Education Pour Tous (CONAMEPT) in Madagascar is holding public hearings on citizens’ education priorities, and hosting a live TV show to raise greater awareness of the 2015 deadline and possibilities. National Campaign for Education Nepal is convening a conference with all political parties to discuss post-2015 priorities and actions.
Many coalitions are reaching out through schools: the GCE coalitions in Spain, Denmark and the UK, for example, are supporting thousands of schools to share lessons and to get involved in activities. Action is happening both in the street – such as community mobilizations organized by COSYDEP Senegal – and online – as, for example, in the social media campaign by NGO Education Partnership Cambodia, or the Google Hangout organized by GCE-US involving students in the United States, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan.
Many GCE coalitions – such as CAMPE in Bangladesh– are marking the Dakar anniversary by gathering the stories of young people born in 2000, asking them to reflect both on their own educational experiences, and on their aspirations for the future. All are asking their governments to #vote4education during this crucial year.
Vote for Education: a call to action
The last 15 years have shown clearly that securing quality education for all is not an easy task; but it remains an essential one. Collective consultations within the GCE membership have produced consensus that the world’s governments must agree to rights-based and comprehensive goals, targets and indicators. And then – to turn an ambitious framework into concrete reality – governments must provide the necessary financing, ensure strong public systems and governance, open themselves to meaningful civil society participation, and focus in a substantive way on both equity and quality.
This week, millions of citizens around the world are calling on their governments to take these steps, making the dream of Kalpana and millions like her a reality. Governments must commit to taking tangible action now, to ensure that children and adults alike receive their right to education, to give everyone the chance to realize their full potential; governments must vote for education.