The Education Blog

Advocates for universal schooling and for the “Education for All” commitment have gathered in Washington to urge federal lawmakers to increase the United States’ annual contribution.

Education Week reports on the news.

U.S. officials would have to double the nation’s pledge to the undertaking over the next year to “$1 billion”and boost it to $3 billion annually over the next five years to meet what is deemed to be its share of the cost of reaching the Education for All goal by 2015. Bills to do so were introduced in Congress last May. Measures introduced in previous years have not made it out of committee.

According to the website of the Education For All (EFA), among the partners of this international commitment are national governments, civil society groups, and development agencies such as UNESCO and the World Bank.

Achieving the Education For All (EFA) goals is critical for attaining all the MDGs in part through the direct impact of education on child and reproductive health and environmental sustainability and by creating a body of experience in multi-partner collaboration toward the 2015 targets. Conversely, achieving other MDGs, such as those dealing with improved health and access to clean drinking water, decreased poverty and environmental sustainability are critical to the achievement of the Education MDGs.

Gene Sperling, the chairwoman of the U.S. chapter of the Global Campaign for Education, is quoted commenting on the importance to support global education.

“The fact that the United States is giving one-fifteenth or one-sixteenth as much compared to our population and income as other countries is something we find very unsettling. [...]“

Photo: © jsugalski

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