Winning the Bigger Prize for Education

Based on an interview with Carol Bellamy, chair of the Global Partnership for Education, this article argues that there is a need to focus on the bigger prize for education.

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"The main challenge that education is facing globally is the assumption that we have won the battle" argued the chair of the Global Partnership for Education, Carol Bellamy, at a recent African Regional Seminar for Health and Education.

Bellamy warned that we cannot be complacent about recent progress in getting more children into school. She particularly emphasised the need to improve education quality and equity: "Just enrolling children in school is not enough, the real challenge is what is going on in school; are children learning? Do we have good teachers? Are teachers being given good support?"

The most recent Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2012 tells a worrying tale. Less than half of the world’s young children received pre-primary education in 2010. Over 60 million children of primary school age and 71 million adolescents of lower secondary school age are still out of school. Out-of-school numbers increased in sub-Saharan Africa by 1.6 million between 2008 and 2010. There are still 775 million adults who cannot read or write.

Despite these great challenges, Bellamy remains positive. She notes progress in the fact that “we are now talking about the quality of education and not simply access”. For instance, several development agencies are adopting a stronger focus on the quality of education. The EU in the “Agenda for Change” promotes the enhancement of support for quality education. Similarly, the World Bank 2020 education strategy and the Global Partnership for Education 2012-2015 Strategic Plan are centred on the idea of quality education - ‘Learning for all’.

 However, this shift in focus needs to be seen in the light of stagnating funding to education (US$13.5 billion in 2010). Less than half of aid for education is invested in the first 10 years of young people's schooling and, as Education International indicates, this amount is far too low to close the external annual financing gap of US$16 billion. This point is also raised by Bellamy. She warned that there is less interest in education on the global development agenda and many donors are reducing their financing for the sector. Therefore, in addition to promoting a more balanced approach to access, quality and equity, she underlines that: “We have to continue to advocate for more funding but at the same time we have to make sure that the money is used well”.

 With decreases in funding and ongoing severe educational challenges, it is not surprising that attempts are now being made to put education back on the global development agenda. Probably the most notable example is the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon’s recent Global Initiative on Education, ‘Education First’, launched in September 2012. This initiative is based on the recognition that education is the basic building block of every society and is a critical foundation for development. There is strong evidence that education - particularly levels of learning – is vital for economic growth, improved health and nutritional outcomes, lower fertility and social stability. The returns of a good quality education are even larger in poor countries than in rich countries. As Bellamy concludes: “If you think about development as a whole, education should not be seen simply as a side-line but really as one of the anchors of development policy”.

 Let's not take education for granted. Despite many successes, especially in getting kids into school, we now need to focus on the bigger prize - promoting quality education for all.

 This piece was written by Bo-Joe Brans, based on a Carol Bellamy interview.