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Past Issues - October 2004 Note: Most hyperlinks will open in a new window. Please close the new window in order to be automatically returned to the GCE site. DOES INEQUALITY MATTER? E-DISCUSSION ON WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2006 The e-discussion on the outline of the next World Bank World Development Report, Equity and Development, will run until November 19. To register as a participant for the remaining two parts of the e-discussion – "Does Inequality Matter?" and "Institutions and Policies for Greater Equity and Lower Poverty" – please visit the consultation website at http://www.dgroups.org/groups/worldbank/WDR2006/ To read the moderator’s summary of Part I, "How Unequal is the World?", visit the WDR 2006 website at http://www.worldbank.org/wdr2006 30 October SACRIFICING EDUCATION ON THE HIPC ALTAR - Zambia Post Lusaka: The Post, a leading Zambian daily, has backed the GCE's campaign to get the IMF to cancel outstanding debt so that Zambia, and many other impoverished countries, can recruit the extra teachers and provide the extra resources needed to achieve EFA. While we appreciate the government's desire and efforts to ease our country's debt burden through the relief offered through Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, we feel too much is being sacrificed for too little. Failing to employ and deploy over 9,000 trained teachers just to meet the conditionalities required to reach the HIPC completion point, when most of our schools have a serious shortage of teachers doesn't make sense at all. It's clear that we need to proceed with caution in our efforts and endeavours to reach the HIPC completion point.
We have always stated that while there may be some initiatives introduced masked with pledges of debt relief, this so-called-relief does not go far enough to address our debt stock and we should not bank on it too much. We have further stated that Zambia's debt and the associated annual debt service payments are unsustainable and the only real answer to this is a total debt cancellation. Failure to resolve this by way of full cancellation so as to unlock resources for sustainable development, Zambia will certainly not attain the Millennium Development Goals as well as the goals of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) which both require substantial financial resources. Clearly, Zambia's Human Development Index, a measure of well-being with respect to the longevity of life, knowledge and decent standard of living, will continue to decline if we don't proceed with caution in our dealings with the IMF and the World Bank and their neoliberal policies and programmes. And let's not deceive ourselves about the extent of HIPC benefits because they are not that much. In theory, the HIPC framework could help to set our country on a course for debt sustainability by providing comprehensive and integrated debt reduction. In practice, it fails to do so for a number of reasons: our country will be firmly wedded to the IMF and World Bank's failed economic programmes and other recipes; HIPC is tied to the murderous IMF policies and programmes. The debt sustainability criteria used in HIPC are unduly restrictive from our country's perspective. Debt represents a massive drain on our very limited revenue base at a time when investment in human capital is desperately needed to underpin growth. Therefore, the optimism being expressed that with HIPC status we would effectively fight poverty and the problems of HIV/AIDS are illusory because HIPC will deliver too little debt relief. HIPC is certainly not an acceptable substitute to complete debt write off. And the reasons why it is offered as a substitute to total debt write-off are not difficult to discern. With total debt write-offs, some poor countries may feel liberated enough not to accept the IMF and World Bank's recipes, thereby threatening their neo-colonial hold on and plunder. And this is why we feel HIPC doesn't address our debt and development problems, it just gives us false hopes. It just makes us pay little attention to our real problems as we struggle for HIPC qualifications. HIPC is nothing but another neo-colonial scheme. It doesn't free us from anything, in fact it helps keep us under servitude and in check. We will continue to be told what to do by the World Bank and IMF and officials of donor nations. Zambians, let the IMF play around with share prices on LuSE and not the future of our children. The education of our children should be treated in accordance with our aspirations as a nation. This means that decisions made by government on education policies should be based on sound principles rather than on the expediencies of reaching HIPC completion point. We should never forget that our young people are our most important natural resource. And we must prepare them for the future; give them ever more attention. They are the malleable clay from which a new Zambia will be built and we should place our hope in them and prepare them, through good education, to take the banner from our hands. After all, underdevelopment is, among other things, lack of learning and lack of the possibility to learn. It is not only how many cannot read or write. It is also how many cannot learn to read or write, or pass on to higher levels of education, due to the lack of teachers, schools and the minimum conditions beyond those most elementary for subsistence. That is why the educational requirements of our children cannot be left to the whims of our creditors. It is time for us to start addressing the problem of education if we are to achieve development. If no drastic measures are taken to urgently correct things, we will be doomed to ignorance. But what will this mean for our future in today's highly globalised world where the struggle for our survival can only be won on the battle of ideas? Education is one of the component parts of the struggle we are now waging for our survival. With good education, we can counter neo-liberal hypocrisy and lies with the complete and honest truth. Zambia will not develop unless the education of the great majority of our children is improved. Our young people have a title to the future, and their future will be the one we ourselves are capable of creating for them. We must prepare these new generations for the world, which won't be an easy world to live in without very good education and technical skills. Education will always need more and more of our resources and deserves serious attention in all that we do if we have to harbour any hope of survival in what appears to be a sombre future. October 19, 2004 ETHIOPIA: PARIS CLUB NATIONS AGREE TO CANCEL $758 M DEBT The Paris Club of mainly western creditor nations have agreed to cancel US $758 million of Ethiopian debt to help cut poverty and stimulate growth. The debt write-off is part of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC), launched in 1996 to ease the burden on the world's poorest countries. Ethiopia's external public sector debt was estimated in 2003 by the International Monetary Fund at $6.8 billion, of which the Paris Club nations were owed $1.89 billion as of April 2004. The write-off came as the Ethiopian government launched concerted efforts through its diplomats overseas to gain greater debt relief. Read more... 18 October 2004 MADAGASCAR: DEBT CAMPAIGNERS CALL FOR TOTAL WRITE-OFF A coalition of debt campaigners has welcomed a decision by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cancel half of Madagascar's debt, but has called for a total write-off of the money owed to the two financial institutions. "The problem is Madagascar is still too poor to service the rest of its debt. We have been calling for full debt cancellation of all the poor countries which fall under the HIPC [Heavily Indebted Poor countries] initiative," Ashok Sinha, coordinator of the UK-based Jubilee Debt Campaign told IRIN. Read more... 18 October 2004 KENYA: MASTERING THE ABCS IS NOT ALWAYS CHILD'S PLAY Discussions about improving the level of education in Kenya often focus on the challenge of achieving universal primary education, or ensuring that girls are not discriminated against when it comes to schooling. While these matters are undoubtedly important, it appears that a continued focus on childhood education is marginalising another group of people who are also in urgent need of educational assistance: Kenya's illiterate adults. Read more... 18 October 2004 LIBERIA: UN PEACEKEEPERS DISPERSE LIBERIAN SCHOOL PROTEST UN peacekeepers in Liberia used teargas to disperse a demonstration on Wednesday by parents and pupils who want their primary school in the capital reopened. Hundreds of demonstrators, including schoolchildren in uniform, disrupted traffic to protest the closure of the Early Learning Foundation School, which has not opened its doors since the new term started on October 5. UN troops clad in riot gear lobbed teargas into the crowd after local youths joined the initially peaceful protest. Read more... 18 October 2004 ZIMBABWE: GOVT HIRES RETIRED TEACHERS TO COUNTER STRIKE The Zimbabwean government, battling with a strike action by teachers, has resorted to hiring retired educators to man classrooms and invigilate ongoing examinations. "We have not yet been told how much we will be paid for our services during the invigilation of examinations, but I think it would be something worthwhile. I have not been employed since my graduation in 2002 and I think this is a grand chance for me to get a few [Zim] dollars for myself, as you know how difficult life is these days," a job hopeful, Malvern Mavhaire, told IRIN. Read more... 18 October 2004 MOZAMBIQUE: WOMEN'S LITERACY IS KEY TO GIRLS EDUCATION - IFPRI STUDY Investing in girls’ and women’s education in rural areas should be a priority, according to this study commissioned by the government of Mozambique. "Raising the literacy of adult household members can dramatically raise girls’ enrollment," say the authors. According to their research, the probability of a rural child enrolling in school can be increased by up to 50% if adults in the household, especially women, are literate. "This finding implies a potentially important role for adult education or literacy campaigns in rural areas." The study also recommends that to enrol more girls, schools need to have more trained teachers, especially female teachers; and reducing or eliminating costs could have an impact too. Read more... 18 October 2004 WOLFENSOHN BACKS GCE ON EDUCATION TO FIGHT AIDS Quoting the GCE's recent report, "Learning to Survive", James Wolfensohn told the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF that "Providing children with a quality education is not only the right thing to do, it also has a huge development impact. If the 115 million children now out of school were to enroll, some 7 million new HIV infections could be avoided over the next decade," he said in his opening address to the assembled finance and development ministers. Wolfensohn also slammed rich countries for breaking EFA financing promises. "Sadly, the international community has not yet been able to mobilize the money. We are letting the children down on the promises made, in 1990 in Jomtien, in Dakar in 2000, and again in Monterrey in 2002... We are simply not keeping our promise." 18 October 2004 Read Wolfensohn's speech in full http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20264452~men uPK:34472~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html Download the GCE report, Learning to Survive. http://www.campaignforeducation.org/resources/Apr2004/Learning%20to%20Su rvive%20final%202604.doc ONE MILLION COMPUTERS FOR AFRICAN SCHOOLS SchoolNet Africa this week unveiled plans to put one million refurbished PCs into African schools. The initiative was launched during a workshop in Johannesburg that brought together partners such as the Global eSchools and Communities Initiative (GESCI), the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), HP and others. SchoolNet's first target is to obtain 200,000 PCs for 20 000 African schools in 15 countries within the next two years. Two hundred practioners will be trained by 2007 and 10 Technical Service Centres will be established. Source: Pambazuka News http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=25094 13 October 2004 FRENCH DEBT SWAP FOR EFA FTI IN NICARAGUA France is preparing a project in Nicaragua called C2D (Contrato de desendeudamiento y desarollo), through which the French authorities would forgive part of the Nicaraguan debt. The amounts gained by the Nicaraguan authorities would have to be earmarked for the primary education program of the Ministry of Education. The FTI indicative framework would serve as the basis for monitoring and evaluation. The French call for a close collaboration with the local donors participating in the SWAP: Canada, Denmark and the EC. Source: FTI October 2004 Newsletter. Contact: aspring@worldbank.org 12 October 2004 SAKINA DAUDI, THE FACE OF WTD 2004, SUCCUMBS TO AIDS Sakina Daudi, a young teacher in Malawi who was the face of this year's World Teachers' Day publicity material, died earlier in spring, due to complication linked to AIDS, Education International has announced. Sakina was a young qualified teacher with a class of 60 students at Ngwenya School in the capital Lilongwe, and was one of 7894 Malawian teachers who received HIV/AIDS training from EI and WHO during 2003. She knew she had AIDS but she passed on the knowledge she gained in the EI programme to her students, so that they would not suffer the same fate as she did. Sakina is unlikely to be replaced: for the last three years, despite the death of more than 1000 teachers per year, the public school system has not recruited newly trained teachers due to the lack of funds. Read more about Sakina at http://www.ei-ie.org/wtd and about EI's HIV/AIDS Prevention programme at http://www.ei-ie.org/aids. Support teachers by taking part in the GCE's online action at www.campaignforeducation.org/action_online.php. 5 October 2004 NEW REPORT REVEALS: ZAMBIAN CHILDREN AND TEACHERS PAYING THE PRICE FOR IMF POLICIES Embargo for print in newspapers on Friday 1st October Contact Caroline Green at Oxfam on +1 202 321 7858 Washington DC: While thousands of trained Zambian teachers sit unemployed and classes overflow with students, Zambia will shell out a staggering $156 million more on debt repayments that it will spend on education this year. These new figures are released today, October 1, in a ground-breaking report by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE). The new report reveals how Zambian children are paying the price for IMF policies. Ludicrously, while schools are in desperate need of another 9000 teachers, 8-9,000 qualified teachers sit unemployed. Why? A budget ceiling on government spending imposed by the IMF means that the government is not able to employ the teachers and health workers it desperately needs. The GCE report, ?Undervaluing teachers: IMF policies squeeze Zambian education system? is co-authored with International agencies VSO and Oxfam. It calls upon the IMF and rich countries at today?s G7 finance ministers meeting to announce 100% cancellation of multilateral debt owed by the world?s poorest countries, funded in part by a revaluation of IMF gold stocks. Report co-author Max Lawson from Oxfam, said: ?The IMF?s priority is to be repaid at all costs, even at the expense of educating Zambian children. Meanwhile the IMF is sitting on billions of dollars worth of gold they neither need nor use.? Co-author Lucia Fry from VSO said ?Zambia shows us the need for a radical change in the way the IMF does its business. IMF commitments to the Millennium Goals are tested in exactly these challenging circumstances and the fund is failing on all counts.? In Zambia, one of the poorest countries in the world, more than 70% of the population live in poverty and one in five adults are infected with HIV/AIDS. Education should be the golden path to ending poverty and helping stop the spread of HIV, yet in 2004, the Zambian government will be forced to pay $377 million in debt repayments, and spend just $221 million education. Repayments to the IMF alone will amount to a massive $247 million, more than entire annual education budget. Silas Silewu, Head Master at Maano Basic School in Lusaka says: ?We have only 3 teachers, including me, to teach 526 pupils. The average class size is 70 pupils and each teacher has to teach two classes. To work effectively we need at least 12 teachers.? The Dutch Government has now stepped in with a short-term emergency package to allow some of these 9000 teachers to be taken on. However this does not solve the long-term problem of how to finance much needed future increases in teacher numbers. GCE Report recommendations:
*Send an online postcard to the head of the IMF 1 October 2004 ©2004 GCE You are welcome to reproduce items from the GCE E-News for any non-profit use, as long as you credit GCE together with any original source mentioned in the article. |
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