Organisations Working for Child Rights
GLOBAL CAMPAIGN ON EDUCATION
More than 50 years after education was affirmed by governments
as a fundamental human right, 125 million children are still out
of school, and one in three adults is illiterate. Determined to
end this injustice, aid agencies, non-government organizations,
child rights activists, and teachers' and public sector unions
operating in 180 countries have joined forces to launch the Global
Campaign for Education (GCE).
The GCE believes that free, quality basic education for every
girl, boy, man and woman is not only an essential right, but also
an achievable goal. It would cost the world an extra 10 billion
USD per year - equivalent to only 4 days of global military spending.
But the costs of failure are far higher. Each year of schooling
gained by each child increases her chances of escaping from poverty,
contributes to economic growth, and strengthens the fabric of
democracy. Each year of schooling helps a mother to protect her
children from malnutrition and disease, and enables young people
to defend themselves from infection with HIV.
With so much to gain, there can be no excuse for further delay.
The GCE therefore demands that the international community and
governments of the South take immediate action to implement the
Education for All goals and strategies agreed by 185 world governments
at Dakar in April 2000. In particular, we call:
» On governments, to involve citizens' groups, teachers
and communities in developing concrete plans of action for delivering
and sustaining free, good quality public education for all;
» On governments, to abolish fees and charges for
public primary education, and to increase their own spending on
basic education, with priority investments in schools and teachers
serving the most disadvantaged groups;
» On the World Bank and rich Northern countries,
to increase aid and debt relief for basic education, and establish
a mechanism to back national plans with speedy, coordinated and
predictable delivery of the additional finance needed;
» On civil society organizations, to hold their
own governments and international institutions accountable for
upholding the right to education, and delivering on the Education
for All goals.
|
