Send My Friend to School is the UK part of a worldwide movement, the Global Campaign for Education.
We lobby the UK government to deliver on its promise to realise education for all by 2015.
Our detailed policy asks are outlined below. For a simplified version go to What we want.
With just seven years to go until the 2015 deadline set by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), there are more than 72 million children worldwide who are missing out on an education. One in nine of the world’s children currently do not have the chance to go to school. Girls, disabled children and those living in countries affected by war are most at risk of missing out on education. At the current rate of progress 58 countries have a low chance or no chance of achieving the goal by 2015.
Current UK government commitment on aid for international education. In 2006 the UK government committed £8.5 billion in education aid to be disbursed by 2015. The government has played a vital role in securing the global commitments to education. Its international policy leadership and dialogue, funding commitments and other support to developing countries has helped to secure significant improvements in educational provision.
In February 2008 the GCE submitted a report to the Department for International Development based on an analysis of the UK spending on aid to education and outlining specific areas where progress could be made.
The GCE has outlined 3 areas where progress is a priority:
- DFID need to develop and implement a strategy to scale up disbursal of education aid – Despite promising £8.5 billion by 2015, DFID gave out just £372 million in the 2006/07 financial year. This rate of delivery needs to be tripled so that at least £1 billion a year is disbursed. The aid must be predictable so that Ministries of Education can plan budgets over several years. And it must be targeted to those countries that need it most, currently less than half of aid is going to those countries that are least likely to meet the education goal.
- Quality, equity and inclusion need to be key factors addressed in all policy dialogue on international education – Millions of children miss out on a decent education because of poor quality education delivery. Problems include large class sizes, poor school environments and shortages of teachers, books and learning materials. Girls, children with disabilities and children in countries affected by conflict are those who are most often excluded from educational opportunity.
- The UK government needs to use its influence with international finance institutions, like the World Bank and the IMF, to remove damaging macro-economic conditions – 18 million more primary teachers are needed by 2015 and teacher shortages are worsened by the unpredictability of aid and inflexible approaches by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Their rulings on public sector wage bills mean that many governments are blocked from recruiting and training desperately needed teachers. DFID can use its influence to ensure that macro-economic policies facilitate, rather than obstruct the delivery of education goals.
Want to know more? Read the GCE UK's latest policy report
