Record support for funding education at global summit

At the close of the Global Partnership for Education’s conference in Senegal, Oxfam applauded donor countries for stepping up their financial pledges, the new countries contributing for the first time, and developing countries that promised to invest even more into their own education systems.

Kira Boe, Oxfam’s education policy advisor at the summit said: “We’re very pleased to see many countries make their biggest contributions yet. The European Union, France, and Norway all gave more than they had before, and new countries like the United Arab Emirates joined the conference for the first time. This is an encouraging sign that education funding is finally getting the attention it sorely deserves.”

Despite the considerable increase in funding, the conference still fell short of the GPE's goal to raise $3.1 billion from donors to cover the next three years.

“Unfortunately, for every country that stepped up, others dragged their feet. The lack of full support from the international community means children in poor countries still face an uphill climb to get the education they need.

“There’s one way to make up for this deficit and close the education funding gap: combating tax avoidance. Oxfam calculates that tax avoidance costs developing countries more than enough money to provide an education for the 264 million children currently out of school,” said Boe.