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Despite the fact that it has been a universal human right for more than half a century, education is denied to 67 million children worldwide.

But, next Monday and Tuesday, international donors have the chance to begin righting this wrong. In Copenhagen, donors will come together to make political and financial commitments to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).

The GPE was known as the Education for All Fast Track Initiative until 2003. Operating under the auspices of the World Bank but governed by a multi-sectoral partnership, the GPE, the initiative has enabled 19 million children to enroll in school. The initiative has also supported the construction of 30,000 classrooms in 46 partner countries.

The GPE conference will be attended by 200 delegates from donor governments, developing countries, United Nations (UN) agencies, private industry and non-governmental organizations – including education ministers from 29 different countries.

Former Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, warns that the need to secure more funding for global education is urgent. Ms. Bellamy is the current Chair of the GPE.

“Education for a time has been overshadowed by other concerns. It is time that education again comes in front,” she said during a pre-summit visit to Copenhagen.

The social and economic benefits of education are immense. Not only can education be an end in itself, but its benefits spill over into the health and employment sectors, too. For instance, in Africa, children whose mothers have completed six years of education are 40 per cent more likely to live past their fifth birthdays. They are also more likely to receive life-saving vaccinations.

Regardless of these payoffs, global education funding has decreased in recent years. Aid levels have stagnated at less than $3 billion for the planet’s poorest countries. Meanwhile, the World Bank International Development Association’s educational support to sub-Saharan Africa has fallen to $157 in the 2011 fiscal year from an average of $202 million between 2005 and 2009.

The GPE has the capacity to enroll an additional 25 million children in school. The cost of this is $2.5 billion over the next three years, of which Canada’s share would be about $40 million, or five per cent.

As is the case with many conferences on worthy global causes, the conference will likely not receive the coverage it deserves – no more than a few news articles and a few moments on national media. But, getting 25 million more young people into the schoolrooms could have spectacular health gains. The deaths of one million children from preventable diseases could be circumvented and the deaths of 40,000 mothers could also be avoided.

Of course, increasing the number of pupils is only a battle in the war against illiteracy and ignorance. Winning the war will mean improving the quality of education, too. As the Brookings Institution notes, “as many as 200 million children will probably leave primary school unable to read, write or do basic math.”

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