Contacts: In Washington: Abby Spring (202) 458-9491 aspring@worldbank.org MOSCOW, March 14, 2006 - Today, Russia’s Minister of Education and Science, Andrei Fursenko, opened an international donor’s meeting on education by committing both financial support and promising that education will be on the top of the agenda of the next G8 Heads of State gathering in St.Petersburg this July. “Russia is committing US$7.2 million to support the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative because it is time to give the gift of education to all children around the world, ”said Minister Fursenko. In 2006, Russia assumed the G8 presidency and the co-chair of the global compact on education, known as the Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (FTI). The announcement came at a crucial time, as major donors for the education compact - including 25 bilateral, regional and international agencies and development banks, gathered in Moscow to discuss progress toward the Millennium Development Goal of Universal Primary Education by 2015. “Russia welcomes the opportunity to play a leadership role in the Education for All - Fast Track Initiative, especially since we feel strongly that the decisions made at the next G8 summit could greatly impact the quality of education for future generations” added Minister Fursenko. Three years ago, World leaders recognized that with more than 100 million children out of school, it would be impossible to achieve this goal without drastic efforts. In response, the Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (FTI) was created in 2002 as the first ever global compact on education to help low-income countries achieve a free, universal basic education by 2015. “Despite good intentions,23 countries remain at risk of not achieving universal primary education, leaving the world’s children in a race against the clock to obtain a quality basic education,” said Desmond Bermingham, the former co-chair of the Fast Track Initiative Secretariat and DFID head of education. Already the 2005 gender parity target, agreed by world leaders in 2000, was missed by 94 countries. Girls in particular benefit greatly from education, and yet tens of millions of them languish outside the school system, contributing to the almost 58 percent of out of school children. “The upcoming G8 meeting provides an opportunity for the donors to keep their promises and announce their expected future commitments to provide the certainty and predictability necessary to encourage countries to invest in education,” Bermingham added. About the Education for All – Fast Track Initiative The Education for All -Fast Track Initiative is based on mutual accountability, and aims to provide the incentives and resources to empower poor nations to build and implement sound education plans. Developing nations are responsible for greater commitment of political and financial resources, while donor nations commit to providing the additional technical know-how and funding required. This compact ensures that no nation that meets its obligations fails for lack of resources or technical capacity. To date, developing countries, with a combined total of 16 million of out of school children have endorsed education plans by the Fast Track Initiative, which signals their high quality and eligibility for full donor support. Estimates are that it will cost approximately $US 1.1 billion dollars of external aid to help send these children to school in 2006. Currently, the donors are providing about $US 490 million through regular bi-lateral and multi-lateral channels, and $US 115 million through the Fast Track Initiative’s Catalytic Fund, leaving an education financing gap of $US 510 million for this year alone. It is expected that by the end of 2008 as many as 60 countries will have education plans endorsed by the Fast Track Initiative partnership, representing 74 million out of school children, or more than 70% of the worldwide number. Estimates are that the financing gap for these 60 countries will be a minimum of $US 2.4 billion annually. The Fast Track Initiative has put into place two funds including the Catalytic Fund, which provides short term financial help to close the education financing gaps for poor countries with too few donors, and the Education Program Development Fund, which provides technical support enabling countries to develop sound education strategies. Today, after two years of implementation, the Fast Track Initiative’s Catalytic Fund has a total of 9 donors with commitments totaling about US$ 445 million over 2003-2007. After only one year of implementation, the Education Program Development Fund (EPDF) is providing 54 developing countries with technical support to help them develop or implement sound education strategies, with donor commitments totaling about US$ 30 million for the period 2005-2007. Around the World: FTI is Already Improving the Quality of Education In Latin America, the Fast Track Initiative’s Education Program Development Fund is already strengthening the capacity of countries to develop education projects and programs, focusing on improvements in quality of education through the design of multi-grade teaching in particular for indigenous and isolated rural populations. In Yemen, funds from the Education Program Development Funds are being used to strengthen institutional capacity for quality basic education. This includes conducting diagnostic studies on teacher training, school curriculum, textbooks and developing benchmarks for learning achievements. In South Asia, the Education Program Development Fund is helping countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan strengthen the quality of their national education plans. Progress is Possible: “With less than a decade to go until the 2015 Universal Primary Education goal is to be met, there are clear signs that progress is possible when political will and resources come together” said Kris Panneels, Director, Belgian Multilateral Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and co-chair of the Fast Track Initiative. · Annual donor assistance to basic education in low-income countries more than doubled from an average of US$1.24 billion in 2002 to an average of $2.64 billion in 2004. · Globally, 47 countries have achieved Universal Primary Education. · Domestic spending on education has increased as a share of national income in about 70 countries. · After more than two decades below 80%, the primary school gross enrollment rate has increased in Sub Saharan Africa and South and West Asia sending nearly an additional 20 million more children to school in each region. · In 2005, Ghana abolished user fees across the country and saw primary school enrollments increase by 14 %. While FTI has achieved some real success, both at the country level and at the global level, to maintain credibility and to expand, the donors must help ensure long term, predictable financial support and more focus on quality education Aid spent effectively does have real impact: · Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Ghana have collectively added one million children a year to their primary school enrollments since joining FTI, more than doubling the rate of increase in enrollment. · In Gambia, $4 million enabled the government to purchase thousands of text books for grades 1-4 resulting in a better quality of education in poor rural areas. · In Yemen, $10 million is being used to increase the quality of education and the enrollment of girls in rural areas, where only 30% attend school. Already, 14,000 teachers have been trained, 86 new schools are being built and female teachers are being hired. # # # The Education for All - Fast Track Initiative has endorsed the following 20 developing countries education plans; Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Honduras, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritania, Moldova, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Tajikistan, Timor Leste, Vietnam, and Yemen. |
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