Press Release - DFID & HM Treasury

2 May 2007

Brown and Benn urge rich nations to boost aid to get all children into schools by 2015

Gordon Brown and Hilary Benn will today tell the international community that the world will not meet the UN’s target of getting all children into primary school by 2015 unless rich countries provide up to $11 billon of new aid every year for the next 10 years.

During a meeting of international development and finance Ministers in Brussels the UK will announce £500 million over the next 10 years to support education plans drawn up by the Governments of Ethiopia and Tanzania. The funds are part of the UK’s pledge to spend £8.5 billion ($15 billion) in the next 10 years, helping the world’s poorest countries recruit more teachers, build new classrooms and provide basic materials like books and stationery.

The UK has already pledged £46 million to Mozambique over 10 years to help provide a national bursary for orphans and girls in rural areas, and to reduce classroom sizes in primary schools.

Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:

“We can be the first generation in history to send every child to school. We will work with every country, charities and international organisations to achieve this goal”.

Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for International Development, said:

“This morning millions of boys and girls weren’t where they should have been – in a classroom, with a desk and a teacher. Governments need the security of long term aid so they can plan their education spending over years not months. That’s why the UK is committed to spending £1 billion on global education every year by 2010.”

In order for the 77 million children who are currently out of school to complete a full 6 years of primary education they must enrol by 2009 at the latest.

At the current rate of progress at least 75 countries, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa, will not achieve the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015. To reach the goal of full access to primary education 1.6 million teachers need to be hired in Africa alone.

This one off meeting which is designed to focus international attention on the 2009 cut off date will include high level representatives from EU states, the G8, Gulf and Arab states, and leadership level representatives from developing countries, the private sector, the UN, and key NGOs.

During the G8 meeting in Gleneagles in 2005 rich countries agreed to increase international aid by $50 billion a year by 2010 to meet UN poverty targets. The UK is committed to ensuring that promise is kept.

Key Facts

• 77 million children, of whom 44 million are girls, do not currently go to primary school. But things are improving - in 2000 there were 95 million children out of school.
• Africa has the largest number of children who are out of school: 38 million. The region with the second largest group with out-of-school children is South and West Asia: 16 million children do not go to school.
• Four countries are home to the largest numbers of out of school children - India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ethiopia (a total of 22.8 million out of school children)
• Poor countries that have their own education plans and the support of international donors have made great progress. Between 2000 and 2004 Niger was able to enrol 400,000 new pupils and recruit more than 10,000 new teachers. In Yemen nearly 200,000 more girls started school in 2004 than in 2002.

Notes to Editors

1. Gordon Brown and Hilary Benn will be speaking at the Keeping our Promises on Education conference on Wednesday 2 May in Brussels. The conference has been organised by the European Commission and the World Bank. Others confirmed to attend include Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, and George Soros of the Soros Foundation.

2. Ethiopia will receive £240million and Tanzania £260million from 2007-2017 to support their national education programme. In Ethiopia 3.6 million children do not go to school and over half a million miss out on basic education in Tanzania.

3. In 2005/2006 the UK’s bilateral and multilateral total expenditure on education was £450 million, but we are committed to increase our spending to £1 billion a year by 2010.

4. What the UK is doing to support global education:

• April 2007: The Chancellor and Hilary Benn announced more than £100 million in aid for education in countries devastated by conflict such as Sierra Leone, Burundi, Somalia, Afghanistan, Nepal, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia. The “Education Beyond Borders initiative” will help ensure that education needs are met in humanitarian emergencies and provide education expertise to those made vulnerable by conflict.
• April 2006: Hilary Benn pledges £150 million for the international Fast Track Initiative on getting all children into primary school.
• The UK is also providing Mozambique with £150m between 2007 to 2016; Ghana with £106m between 2006 to 2015 and India with £200m between 2007 to 2011.
• March 2006: Chancellor and Hilary Benn pledge to spend £8.5 bn over 10 years - £1 bn a year by 2010.

5. For media enquiries please contact:

Or to find out what the UK is doing to promote education around the world please visit www.dfid.gov.uk/mdg/education.asp 

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