Summary

Promises To Keep - Donors must make 2007 a breakthrough year for education

Each year, GCE holds donor governments to account for their promises on education, using this ‘School Report’ as the method to benchmark their performance. In 2007, campaigners and learners, parents and children, were expecting to see rich nations race for the finishing line of 2015 – the date set by the world to achieve a range of vital targets in education. Yet this report shows that donors have slammed the brakes on progress, devastating the expectations of those who dared to dream that no future generation would have to live without the light and hope of education in their lives. This means millions of children have missed their chance to go to school due to the poor performance of the Class of 2007.

GCE’s top three demands for 2007 are:

• Donors must immediately commit their fair share of the $9 billion needed this year to get every girl and boy into school.
• Donors must publicly pledge that by 2009, aid to basic education will reach $16 billion per year to enable adults, children and infants to lift themselves out of poverty through education.
• Donors must back the Education for All Fast-Track Initiative with real, upfront resources, to encourage truly ambitious planning by developing countries.

Education For All: A dream within reach?

Seven years ago, at the turn of the Millennium, it seemed that a new era of hope had arrived for the poor, the sick, the neglected and forgotten of the world. In a spirit of optimism and co-operation, leaders of rich and poor countries together committed themselves to a range of goals and targets to end global poverty and make the world a fairer place. Central to these were the Education For All (EFA) goals agreed by over 180 countries in Dakar in April 2000, which guaranteed every child and adult the chance to transform their lives through education.

The Six EFA goals set for 2015:

• Expand early childhood care and education.
• Ensure all children, especially girls, complete free and compulsory, good quality primary education.
• Ensure equal access to learning and life-skills training for young people and adults.
• Achieve a 50% improvement in adult literacy rates.
• Achieve gender equity in primary and secondary education.
• Improve the quality of education – especially in literacy, numeracy and life-skills. not up to scratch School Report 2007 Global Campaign for Education.
  

Date of publication: May 2007

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