Aid to education stagnates, jeopardising global targets
Overview
The global community’s new development goals include achieving universal pre-primary, primary and secondary education of good quality by 2030. For the world to reach that target, aid to education needs to rise considerably. Donor countries have the means to bridge the gap. But the latest data, from 2014, show that for several years aid to education has been stuck at a level far below what is needed.
The 2015 EFA Global Monitoring Report estimated that $US39 billion a year will be required on average over the next 15 years to reach the global education goals, over and above what low and lower middle income countries can mobilise themselves. Low income countries alone need $US21 billion a year. Yet when these estimates were made, aid for basic and secondary education in low income countries amounted to only US$3 billion — one-seventh of what these countries need.