Brown and Benn urge rich
nations to boost aid to get all children into school by 2015
HM TREASURY News
Release (52/07) issued by The Government News Network on 2 May 2007
Gordon Brown and
Hilary Benn today told the international community that the world
will not meet the UN's target of getting all children into
primary school by 2015 unless rich countries provide up to $11
billon of new aid every year for the next 10 years.
During a meeting of international development and finance
Ministers in Brussels, the UK announced £500 million over the next
10 years to support education plans drawn up by the Governments of
Ethiopia and Tanzania. The funds are part of the UK's pledge
to spend £8.5 billion ($15 billion) in the next 10 years, helping
the world's poorest countries recruit more teachers, build
new classrooms and provide basic materials like books and stationery.
The UK has already pledged £46 million to Mozambique over 10
years to help provide a national bursary for orphans and girls in
rural areas, and to reduce classroom sizes in primary schools.
Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:
"We can be the first generation in history to send every
child to school. We will work with every country, charities and
international organisations to achieve this goal".
Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for International Development, said:
"This morning millions of boys and girls weren't where
they should have been - in a classroom, with a desk and a teacher.
Governments need the security of long-term aid so they can plan
their education spending over years not months. That's why
the UK is committed to spending £1 billion on global education
every year by 2010."
In order for the 77 million children who are currently out of
school to complete a full 6 years of primary education they must
enrol by 2009 at the latest.
At the current rate of progress at least 75 countries, mainly in
Sub-Saharan Africa, will not achieve the Millennium Development
Goal of universal primary education by 2015. To reach the goal of
full access to primary education, 1.6 million teachers need to be
hired in Africa alone.
This one-off meeting which is designed to focus international
attention on the 2009 cut-off date will include high level
representatives from EU states, the G8, Gulf and Arab states, and
leadership level representatives from developing countries, the
private sector, the UN, and key NGOs.
During the G8 meeting in Gleneagles in 2005, rich countries
agreed to increase international aid by $50 billion a year by 2010
to meet UN poverty targets. The UK is committed to ensuring that
promise is kept.
Key Facts
* 77 million children, of whom 44 million are girls, do not
currently go to primary school. But things are improving - in 2000
there were 95 million children out of school.
* Africa has the largest number of children who are out of
school: 38 million. The region with the second largest group with
out-of-school children is South and West Asia: 16 million children
do not go to school.
* Four countries are home to the largest numbers of out of school
children - India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ethiopia (a total of 22.8
million out of school children)
* Poor countries that have their own education plans and the
support of international donors have made great progress. Between
2000 and 2004 Niger was able to enrol 400,000 new pupils and
recruit more than 10,000 new teachers. In Yemen nearly 200,000
more girls started school in 2004 than in 2002.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. Gordon Brown and Hilary Benn will be speaking at the Keeping
our Promises on Education conference on Wednesday 2 May in
Brussels. The conference has been organised by the European
Commission and the World Bank. Others confirmed to attend include
Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, Jose Manuel Barroso,
President of the European Commission, and George Soros of the
Soros Foundation.
2. Ethiopia will receive £240million and Tanzania £260million
from 2007-2017 to support their national education programme. In
Ethiopia 3.6 million children do not go to school and over half a
million miss out on basic education in Tanzania.
3. In 2005/2006 the UK's bilateral and multilateral total
expenditure on education was £450 million, but we are committed to
increase our spending to £1 billion a year by 2010.
4. What the UK is doing to support global education:
* April 2007: The Chancellor and Hilary Benn announced more than
£100 million in aid for education in countries devastated by
conflict such as Sierra Leone, Burundi, Somalia, Afghanistan,
Nepal, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia. The
"Education Beyond Borders initiative" will help ensure
that education needs are met in humanitarian emergencies and
provide education expertise to those made vulnerable by conflict.
* April 2006: Hilary Benn pledges £150 million for the
international Fast Track Initiative on getting all children into
primary school.
* The UK is also providing Mozambique with £150m between 2007 to
2016; Ghana with £106m between 2006 to 2015 and India with £200m
between 2007 to 2011.
* March 2006: Chancellor and Hilary Benn pledge to spend £8.5 bn
over 10 years - £1 bn a year by 2010.
To find out what the UK is doing to promote education around the
world please visit http://www.dfid.gov.uk/mdg/education.asp