NEW YORK, May 8, 2009: A global push to enroll children in school faces an immediate financing gap of some 1.2 billion US dollar — a situation that threatens the goal of universal education by 2015, say backers of the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI).
Supporters from 34 countries endorsed a campaign April 25 during the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings to mobilize resources for the program, an international partnership set up in 2002 to provide all boys and girls in developing countries a complete primary school education by 2015.
– We have to do whatever we can to convince other donors that they should take part of the EFA-FTI and support it also in terms of financial means, said Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Ms. Ulla Tørnæs, currently co-chair of the EFA-FTI.
Some 37 low-income countries are endorsed by the EFA – FTI and most of them are counting on financial support for education so more children can go to school. Another 10 countries hope to join the partnership before the end of 2010 and send millions of out-of-school children to primary school.
With the global slowdown impacting poor countries worldwide, governments and donor agencies need to continue to invest in long-term education despite the fiscal pressure to cut back, FTI supporters said.
At stake are the hard-fought education and other development gains of previous decades. Now more than ever, education is one of the best investments a country can make, particularly ensuring that girls have educational opportunities, they said.
– The current crisis is undermining the enormous progress that is being made on education outcomes, warned World Bank Managing Director Graeme Wheeler.
– It is putting them at risk. And we need to move quickly to increase our assistance to education. The funding needs, quite simply, are enormous.
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