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	Mandela demands action from the G8 leaders this July   Young GCE activists with Nelson Mandela at Trafalgar Square   Kids show their "Friends" to the crowd - symbolising over 100 million girls and boys who don't go to school
	Past Issues - February 2005 Note: Most hyperlinks will open in a new window. Please close the new window in order to be automatically returned to the GCE site. GLOBAL AID 'FAILING POOR NATIONS' Only one-fifth of global aid is actually going to the world's poorest countries, say GCE member organisations Oxfam and ActionAid, in a joint report. They accuse the wealthiest nations of failing the poor with a "self-serving and hypocritical" system of aid. Up to 40% of aid is "tied", forcing developing countries to buy overpriced goods from donor countries, the report says. Read more at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/debt_aid/aid_millstone.htm 28 February 2005 Back to Top E-CONSULTATION ON LITERACY FOR 2006 EFA MONITORING REPORT For the first time, the EFA Global Monitoring Report is organizing an online consultation focusing on the theme of its next report: literacy. Download the outline today at www.efareport.unesco.org and join the consultation running from 10 to 25 March. 28 February 2005 Back to Top NEPAL: MEMBER OF GCE NEPAL COALITION ARRESTED ? URGENT ACTION REQUESTED TO SECURE HIS RELEASE Gauri Pradhan, founding president of Child Workers in Nepal Concern Centre (CWIN), one of the leading organizations in the GCE Action Week coalitions, and one of Nepal's most prominent advocates for children's rights, was arrested by police at Kathmandu Airport on the afternoon of 17 February following his return from a visit to Europe. He is reportedly being held at the police headquarters in Naxal, Kathmandu. The reason for his arrest is not known. However, human rights defenders have been among those targeted in the mass arrests of political leaders, student activists, and trade unionists following King Gyanendra's declaration of a state of emergency on 1 February. Colleagues who met Gauri Pradhan in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was attending a working group meeting of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, said that he had expressed the fear that he might be arrested when he returned home to Nepal. CWIN is a leading child rights organisation in Nepal that raises controversial issues including child labour, trafficking, and the impact of conflict on children. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Nepali, English or your own language: expressing concern for the safety of Gauri Pradhan, founding president of the Child Workers in Nepal Concern Centre (CWIN), who was arrested from Kathmandu Airport on 17 February 2005; urging the authorities to grant him immediate access to his relatives, lawyers and any medical attention he may require; urging that he be treated humanely while in detention and not tortured or ill-treated; calling for him to be released immediately and unconditionally, unless he is to be charged with a recognizably criminal offence; calling on the authorities to guarantee the safety of human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and other members of civil society, and to ensure that they are able to carry out their work without fear of arrest or harassment by the security forces; calling on authorities to urgently restore fundamental human rights suspended during the state of emergency, and to open a political process for resolving the conflict that is based on justice and respect for human rights. 24 February 2005 Back to Top FREE MEANS COMPLETELY FREE, INDIAN RIGHTS COMMISSION RULES Rajasthan: Free education must remain completely free for poor families, with no extra fees imposed by schools, the state human rights commission in Rajasthan ruled recently. This was a victory for Bachpan Bachao Andolan (a founding member of the GCE coalition in India), which filed a petition with the commission and used the 2004 Global Action Week to pressure government to act. The commission has issued a directive to the Education Department ordering that no development fees should be charged for children coming from economically deprived families, and holding District Education Officers accountable for enforcing this. During the Action Week last April, the issue gained lots of attention from the local media when children spoke out during a children's parliament. Henna Kosar, who had worked in the bangle industry for Rs. 20 a day before BBA helped her to get a place in school, told how she had to drop out again because her father, a trolley puller, could not afford to pay the fees. India passed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing free education a few years ago, after extensive civil society campaigning. Henna's case was a clear violation of the basic right to education, BBA argued in its petition to the human rights commission. In May, right after the Action Week, the commission sent a notice to the state government demanding clarification of its policies on fees, and set up an inquiry committee to look into the matter. The ruling in BBA's favour followed at the end of the year. Meanwhile, Henna has returned to school and is studying for her secondary school certificate. "Henna is a multi-talented girl and we envisage a bright future for her," said a BBA spokesperson. For more information contact saccs@ndf.vsnl.net in or visit www.bbasaccs.org 24 February 2005 Back to Top INDONESIA: "STOP PEMISKINAN" Groups in Indonesia have come together as part of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty to call for debt cancellation, shelter for all, education for all and real action to combat poverty. The groups launched a "STOP PEMISKINAN" campaign on 19th January 2005 with white bands as the symbol. Although time was short for preparation, they wanted to use the Consultative Group on Indonesia or Paris Club meeting in Indonesia as part of a public education campaign to stop all causes of poverty. Civil society organizations demanded that the CGI deliver debt cancellation and not merely a moratorium. On 19th January, fifteen activists went to the CGI venue and started to distribute materials about GCAP and national organizations' call to stop poverty. 150 whitebands were distributed to delegates and to people outside the CGI venue. They were stopped by the security but some of the group were able to get inside. They put white arm bands on the security staff and delegates inside the venue. Network members are discussing how to develop creative materials and events to reach out to even more people. A media network is being developed and a website will be launched to help mobilize more concerned citizens including celebrities and prominent leaders to join. A short film will be produced on the MDGs and the GCAP call to end poverty by film producers who are working with the campaign. This film will be used as a tool to get the message across and shown at community gatherings and events across the country. For more information or to get involved with the Indonesia campaign please contact Avi Mahaningtya at avi@indo.net.id 8 February 2005 Back to Top EDUCATION KEY TO MALAYSIAN MIRACLE, SAYS PRIME MINISTER Investment in basic education was both politically and economically critical in enabling Malaysia to overcome poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals, according to a new report by UNDP and the Government of Malaysia. Only 5 percent of Malaysian households are living below the poverty line today - as opposed to more than 50% in 1970. A key ingredient of Malaysia's success was sustained investment in public education and health, with a focus on overcoming ethnic and geographic inequalities in access, said Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The Government had recognized early on that the process of development could not succeed without the support and participation of each of the ethnic, religious and social groups comprising Malaysia’s diverse society, said Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Abdullah. Overcoming inequalities in access to health and education was critical in giving all groups a stake in the process, Dato’ Seri Abdullah explained. A focus on education also helped to build skills needed for economic take-off. "In 1970, one third of the population aged 6 and over had never attended school. Today that figure is just one in 10, and almost all children now complete 6 years of primary schooling; with those who have never attended school being among the older generations," observed Dr. Richard Leete, the head of the United Nations in Malaysia.. The report further credits national unity, political stability and agricultural and rural development as important to Malaysia's success. Download the UNDP/Government of Malaysia report http://www.undp.org.my/undp/millgoals/MDG_Malaysia.asp 28 January 2005 Back to Top YOUR TURN TO BE GREAT, MANDELA TELLS GCE KIDS London: Young people active in the Global Campaign for Action in the UK took centre stage with Nelson Mandela in a massive rally ahead of the G7 Finance Ministers' meeting. The kids told the crowd of 22,000 people that they are demanding action from world leaders this year to "Send our Friends to School" - and both Mr Mandela and his wife, Mrs Machel, have pledged their support. Sheetal (15 years old), Alfie (14 years old), and Matthew (14 years old) from East Ham, on London's east side, met Mandela as part of the Make Poverty History rally at Trafalgar Square. In a symbolic gesture, Mr Mandela handed over a white band to the kids – the symbol of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. In so doing he was also handing over the fight for freedom, justice and equality to a new generation, he told them. "Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom” he told Sheetal, 14, as he handed her the white band. Sheetal responded by pledging to take the white band to the G8 summit in July, as part of the GCEs Send My Friend to School events, and give it to the G8 heads of state. The Send My Friend to School challenge, focus of this year's GCE Global Action Week (April 24-29 2005), also won the support of Graca Machel, former education minister of Mozambique and wife of Nelson Mandela. Desptie a hectic schedule in London, Mrs Machel managed to find time to meet with young people and hear them talk about the cut-out "friends" they have made to represent more than 100 million children out of school around the world. Mrs Machela signed a pledge on the back of one of the "friends" stating that: “Girls’ education is the key to ending world poverty. 2005 marks the year that world leaders have broken their promise to get equal numbers of girls and boys into school. I support the Global Campaign for Education’s call to educate girls to end poverty and call on world leaders to respond to calls from children around the world to Send our Friends to School." The GCE is hoping to collect millions of cut-out Friends made by children around the world and present them to the G8 leaders when they gather in Scotland this July. Find out how to join the global Send My Friend to School challenge GCE is part of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. Read all about it at www.whiteband.org Read news coverage of the Mandela rally http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/16350184?source=Evening%20Standard Kofi Annan to launch UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development will be officially launched on March 1 2005 in New York. The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and UNESCO's Koïchiro Matsuura will be present at the ceremony. In addition to the international launch, a series of regional and national launches of the Decade will take place during the course of 2005. 7 February 2005 Back to Top MALI'S TEACHERS CONTRIBUTE TO NEW HIV CURRICULUM SNEC, the national teachers' union of Mali, is participating in the design of a new curriculum which incorporates HIV/AIDS issues. Government's request that SNEC get involved in curriculum development is a positive step, says Education International, the worldwide federation of teachers' unions and a member of GCE. "This recognition by the Malian government directly results from SNEC's success in implementing a national project to train teachers on HIV prevention," said EI. The project, part of a WHO/EI initiative, has trained thousands of teachers in various regions. 7 February 2005 Back to Top ZAMBIA LIFTS PUBLIC SECTOR WAGE FREEZE Following campaigning by GCE members, Zambia's government is to lift the controversial ceiling on the public sector wage bill which kept 9,000 badly needed teachers out of work and froze salaries of teachers and health workers. In an effort to meet IMF targets for debt relief, Zambia had previously capped the wage bill at 7.99% of GDP. Because of the wage cap, Zambia was unable to replace teachers lost to HIV/AIDS and some rural schools had more than 100 students per teacher, as GCE showed in a research report launched at the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings last September. This year, Finance Minister Ng'andu Magande announced in his annual budget speech on 28 January that salary spending will rise to 8.12% of GDP. The increase will allow government to make good on long overdue pay increases and unpaid housing allowances for teachers, as well as employing an extra 5,000 teachers, Magande said. Overall spending for education will also rise, from 20% of the budget to 24% of the budget. "We are very pleased to see that government has acted on some of our recommendations," said George Mwaanda of VSO, a GCE member organisation which helped to lead the push to overturn the wage cap. GCE supporters around the world sent thousands of postcards and e-mail messages asking the IMF to change its policies so that heavily indebted countries like Zambia can achieve education for all. Watch this space for more news and analysis on Zambia's budget increases in the days to come. Read the GCE's report on how IMF policies squeeze education 3 February 2005 Back to Top BANGLADESH'S SUCCESS STORY ON GIRLS EDUCATION: JUST HOW SUCCESSFUL IS IT? At the 'Beyond Access' conference organised by DFID, Oxfam and the University of London in Dhaka, GCE member coalition CAMPE presented a critical analysis of the much-heralded Bangladesh "success story" on girls' education. Facing an enormous gender gap in education at the start of the 1990s, Bangladesh had achieved and even surpassed 100% parity in primary and secondary enrolments by last year. Vigorous action by government was critical, including the adoption of a compulsory primary education law in 1990 and increasing investment in measures that helped girls, such as free textbooks, food benefits, more female teachers and incentives for pupil's families such as food aid, cash transfers and stipends. NGOs also played a major part, with some 1.5 million children enrolled in NGO-run education centres. Wider social changes also contributed. However, authors Mansoor Ahmed and Rasheda Chowdhury warn that parity does not automatically mean equity. CAMPE estimates that some 47% of all primary-age children do not complete a full cycle of primary school, and a third of those who do attend for five years fail to achieve full literacy. With gender disadvantage fading, a major poverty gap still characterises education in Bangladesh, with poor children most likely to drop out (or never enroll) and least likely to achieve academic competence. Programmes such as free textbooks and cash stipends are not being effectively targeted at the poor, says CAMPE. Download the paper by Mansoor Ahmed and Rasheda Chowdhury 6 February 2005 Back to Top NFE PUPILS WIN RIGHT TO ATTEND GOVT HIGH SCHOOLS Following pressure from the Elimu Yetu Coalition (see related story below), Kenya's Minister for Education has ordered that public high schools admit candidates from NFE centres who pass the primary certificate exam (KCPE). The Examination Council was also ordered to register NFE centers as examination centers, meaning that candidates from these centres will be able compete equally with candidates from formal schools. The minister warned that the exclusion of NFE children from secondary schools, which had been heavily criticised by civil society, "should not happen again in this country’’. Wambua Nzioka, EYC coordinator, said "We believe this is a major step in our campaign for EFA." 04 February 2005 Back to Top ©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. IN THIS SECTION News Headlines News in Full Past Issues Sign up to receive News Upcoming Events
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