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| Gordon Brown in Maputo/David Fish/ActionAid | Nelson Mandela greets GCE campaigners/David Fish/ActionAid | Paul Weinberg / Oxfam / South Africa |
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Past Issues - June 2007 Note: Most hyperlinks will open in a new window. Please close the new window in order to be automatically returned to the GCE site. WARM WORDS, LITTLE ACTION FROM G8 SAYS GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR EDUCATION The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) has issued a guarded welcome to the constructive wording on education offered up in this year's G8 communiqué but is dismayed that yet again these promises aren't backed by enough real and specific funding commitments. Campaigners say the text of 'Growth and Responsibility in Africa' is a broadly positive reiteration of rich countries' responsibility to support Education For All (EFA). Of particular note is the affirmation of the Dakar pledge that 'no country seriously committed to 'Education for All' will be thwarted in their achievement of this goal by lack of resources'. This goes further, even, than the 2005 Gleneagles communiqué, GCE analysts stated. They also greeted with pleasure the strong endorsement of the Education for All Fast-Track Initiative (launched in 2002 to accelerate funding for universal primary education), and their promise to pay attention to low-income countries and fragile states. Yet whilst these statements are undeniably welcome, GCE gave a more subdued response to the financial commitments offered up today. Eleventh-hour negotiations led to the G8 reaffirming the 2005 aid targets – a hard-won result but one that represents the status quo, rather than the progress campaigners had hoped for. Activists at the summit commented that on aid overall, the G8 are running to stand still. Education activists have been urging the G8 to make a firm pledge to close the financing gap for education – estimated by United Nations at $6 billion per annum for universal primary completion and as much as $13 billion for the full EFA agenda. The communiqué contains just one statement on financing EFA, obliging the G8 'to work with partners and other donors to meet shortfalls in all FTI-endorsed countries…around $500 million for 2007'. This ambiguous and limited statement falls far short of the stated plan to get 80 million children into school and end the scandal of global illiteracy with one in five adults currently unable to read or write. "We trust that the G8 will be as good as their word and come up with this $500 million immediately," said Kailash Satyarthi, GCE President "but it is just a fraction of what is needed to meet their own promise to provide universal education. The G8's share of the financing gap is at least $5 billion per year. Campaigners in over 100 countries won't be satisfied with this measly offering ." "We welcome the words on education that you've produced. But close to 1 billion people still can't read what you've written. Only when you've put your words into action and pledge the money you know is needed will this change" David Archer (GCE Board Member & ActionAid International) "We've heard these words before back in 2000 at the World Education Forum - that rich countries will stick to their side of the bargain in providing education for everyone. This is good only if these words are made a reality. Since this promise was first made millions have reached graduation age without ever going school. How many millions more will miss out before the G8 puts the resources behind their warm words on education." Sita Dewkalie (GCE Board Member & Oxfam International) View Press release in Spanish | French 8th June GCE ASKS G8 "LIVE UP TO YOUR POTENTIAL, GIVE EVERYONE A CHANCE TO GO TO SCHOOL" "As you enjoy the sea air in Heiligendamn, remember us. Eight of you have the potential to give 80 million children and 800 million adults an education. Do your maths homework, and add some extra lessons in morality. This year, the world's children should learn that promises result in action. Rasheda Choudhury, GCE Board Member On the eve of the G8 Summit, the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) is uniting to call for action on aid and on basic education. Two years ago in Gleneagles, the G8 committed to increase aid by $50 billion overall by 2010. GCE is deeply concerned that, at this late stage, there is not even agreement to reiterate the 2005 commitments, desperately needed to achieve Education For All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals. Specific commitments on education seem even more remote, as the Summit becomes mired by deadlock on climate change and Russia's controversial stance on defence. Yet campaigners press the case that global attention to education is urgently needed. GCE recently published a 'School Report', which grades rich countries' performance in giving aid to achieve EFA. It shows that aid to basic education is actually falling – and at least another $6 billion per year is needed. The report highlights that the some of the worst 'class performers' are the G8 nations. The US, Japan, Germany and Italy are the most miserly of the rich countries, collectively giving just 10% of what is needed to keep their own promises of universal education by 2015. The reports says that G8 class captain, Angela Merkel, urgently needs to pull her socks up to find the additional $472 million a year needed for Germany to be funding its 'fair share' of the costs of giving all children a decent primary education. Just ahead of the Summit, US President George Bush made a modest announcement of extra aid to basic education – calling on Congress to fund $525 million over the next five years. Increases are long overdue; US performance has left them sitting near the bottom of GCE's 'class' in recent years. But although welcome, this diffident effort is way below what is needed to improve their class position. In fact, the US must increase aid by $2.5 billion per annum to achieve an 'A' grade in the GCE School Report. Increases on a similar scale are also needed from Germany, Japan, Italy and France. Education is the best weapon the world has against illness, disease, poverty and conflict. With good education, in time, comes jobs, national development, growth, empowerment and prosperity. Just one year of schooling increases a woman's future earning potential by 10-20%, and if a woman completes school her children are 50% more likely to survive past the age of five. Moreover, if every child went to school seven million cases of HIV/AIDS could be prevented in the next decade. "Every year world leaders in fancy hotels debate whether they can afford to give a tiny proportion of their national wealth to help every girl and boy get an education. But they should be thinking about the cost of inaction. Every year that progress on education is held up sees another generation condemned to hard labour, poverty, ill-health and despair. Will this create the stable global society that all nations – including the G8 – strive for?' Kailash Satyarthi (President of the Global Campaign for Education) "In over 100 countries, millions of people of all ages have joined up to taking demand their right to go education. Now we're addressing just eight people from eight rich countries – can you do the same?" Elie Jouen (Chair of the Global Campaign for Education) 6th June Click to view Past
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