As world leaders gather in London this week, the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) has called for swift action from the G20 group of nations to prevent the global financial crisis from undermining prospects of future generations lifting themselves out of poverty through education.
The G20 group is an informal forum that brings together leaders from industrialized and developing economies to discuss issues of global economic stability.
Talks on the global financial crisis are likely to take centre stage at this week’s talks, and the GCE is concerned that the education needs of the global poor will be marginalised in the debates.
“Slow but steady progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, especially in education, risk being swept away by the current climate. Families struggling to survive will resort to sending their children to work to meet their basic needs”, says David Archer, board member of GCE.
The GCE feels that public education is one of the best investments that can be made right now. A single year of schooling can increase a girl’s future income by 10 to 20%, and investing in education protects the poorest from some of the worst economic harm.
Aid to basic education is reported to have already dropped to R40.5 billion per year, against the R147.5 billion needed to ensure ‘Education for All’ by 2015. Shrinking domestic revenues will like likely lead to further reductions in public investment in education.
The global education access movement wants global leaders to renew their commitment to education by meeting the 2005 aid targets and increase this by R40.5 billion per year to make up for the deficit caused by shrinking global income.