FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Alexandra Humme ahumme@globalpartnership.org
Global Partnership for Education (GPE) launches new report with data showing more children than ever attending school, but an alarming decline in global education funding.
Washington, D.C., December 11, 2013. Education aid to the poorest countries in the world is in sharp decline, threatening to derail progress made over the past decade, says a new report by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The report, entitled Results for Learning 2013: Facing the Challenges of Data, Financing and Fragility was officially launched today at an event hosted by the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution.
According to the report, the average primary school completion rate in GPE developing countries rose from 58 percent in 2000 to 75 percent in 2011. The share of out-of-school children declined from 39 percent to 24 percent over the same period. However, the report highlights risks that threaten the progress on global education, including the alarming decrease in external financing for education and the challenges in reaching children in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Another major issue is the lack of data on financing for education and learning outcomes, which is a clear obstacle to setting goals and measuring progress.
”The report shows that we are not on target to reaching universal primary education by 2015,” said Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Partnership for Education. “We are facing a learning crisis in developing countries, and this crisis is aggravated by a sharp decline in international education financing. We need to focus on this crisis if we want to avoid that millions of children are left behind,” she added.
The Results for Learning Report 2013 is part of GPE’s efforts to foster dialogue around education results and provide transparent information about progress in the education sector.
Main findings regarding the decade of work and impact of the Global Partnership in its 59 developing country partners include:
More children are going to school and completing primary education: The average primary completion rate in GPE developing countries rose from 58 percent in 2000 to 75 percent in 2011. The share of out-of-school children declined from 39 percent to 24 percent over the same period.
More children than ever attend lower-secondary school: In 2011, 58 percent of children in GPE developing countries had access to lower-secondary school, compared with only 38 percent in 2000.
More girls are in school: Gender parity in pre-primary and primary education has been achieved in most GPE developing countries.
Public education spending in GPE developing countries has increased: The share of education in total government expenditures rose from 16 percent in 2000 to 18 percent in 2011. On average, domestic expenditure for education as a share of the GDP was 10 percent greater after a country joined the partnership.
Despite the progress, the report findings also reveal critical challenges that GPE developing countries face:
International aid for education is declining rapidly: In GPE developing countries, the aid disbursements for basic education declined by 14 percent between 2009 and 2011; this was more rapid than the decline in any other sector.
Lack of quality education data: The lack of financial data and data on learning outcomes is a serious impediment to achieving progress in education.
Too many children are still not learning: Of the 180 million primary school-aged children in GPE developing countries, only 80 million (or 44 percent) reach grade 4 and learn the basic skills in writing, reading and numeracy.
Children in fragile and conflict-affected countries miss out the most: Almost 36 million of the 42 million children who are out of school in GPE developing countries live in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. This is more than 60 percent of all primary-aged school children worldwide.
“Our biggest challenge is to reach the most marginalized children and those living in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Moving ahead and making more progress will require the collective and sustained mobilization of the global education community. The Global Partnership is on the front line on this issue, because 85 percent of all out-of-school children in GPE developing countries live in fragile and conflict-affected countries,” Albright said.
The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) works with low-income countries around the world to help them provide basic education of good quality to all of their children. Countries develop education sector plans that set clear targets and commitments; GPE partners--including donor governments, multilateral agencies, civil society/non-governmental organizations, and the private sector--align their support around these plans. Over the past decade, the Global Partnership has allocated US$3.7 billion to 59 countries in support of education and spurred developing country governments to increase their domestic financing for education.