This blog post was originally published in the INEE Blog.
Much is happening in preparation for the post-2015 agenda; consultations, meetings, surveys, all to gather inputs from the international community on ways forward. This blog will focus on the recent World We Want’s Thematic Consultation on Education in the post-2015 development agenda, held in Dakar on 18-19 March. I was present at this meeting, representing INEE.
Strong words make the case
During the two days of meetings, presenters focused on education access, equity and quality. Gordon Brown, in a video to the group, stated, “universal learning is a goal of goals, or a super goal, because without education we cannot unlock the other development goals, such as employment opportunity, gender equality, environmental care and good health.”
The need for education in crisis situations was cited repeatedly by presenters; however, the most powerful intervention came from Desmond Birmingham of Save the Children. He said,
“Ministers, ladies, gentlemen. In the three minutes I have to make this intervention, tens, possibly hundreds, of children will be killed, injured, maimed, tortured or driven from their homes in Mali, Syria, Afghanistan, and many other senseless wars and conflicts that continue to blight the lives of children and young people around the world. For these children, education is a dream. It was a dream, 23 years ago when the global education community met in Jomtien. It was a dream 13 years ago when many of the same members of the global education community met here in Dakar. And it remains a dream for more than 20 million children who are denied their right to education because they have the misfortune to be born into a conflict or are caught in a natural disaster. It is also a dream for millions of children who are born poor.
And what is our response?
- 2 % of humanitarian aid goes to education.
- Total aid for basic education in low income countries is less than 1 / 10,000th of global GDP, and we hold more global meetings.
- The cost of this meeting – including our travel and our accommodation – would pay a year’s salary for 200 primary school teachers in Senegal.
- 6 day’s global military expenditure would fill the financing gap for education and ensure that every child receives a good quality education.
- And if all countries – developing and donor countries – followed their own advice to countries and allocated 20% of their aid to education – and 50% of that to basic education – more than half of the financing gap would be filled.
We believe that this is a minimum investment to achieve the goals that we all agree are essential to ensure equitable growth: no child is left out of school and that every child in school is learning…Education Cannot Wait.”
We hope you’ll get involved in helping children learn and grow, and join our conversation on Facebook and Twitter.