On October 1 2016 the APPG on Global Education for All joined forces with the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) UK to discuss the recently published Education Commission Financing Report here in Parliament (you can read the blog written by the Education Commission here). The event, titled ‘The Learning Generation: How to Finance Education and Leave No One Behind, saw the following speakers discuss some of the key challenges we face in our mission to ensure every child receives a quality education:
- Lord Bates, Minister of State for International Development
- Alice Albright, CEO, Global Partnership for Education
- Amel Karboul, Education Commission and former Tourism Minister of Tunisia
- Pauline Rose, Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) centre, Cambridge University
- Tanya Barron, CEO of Plan International UK and representative of the Global Campaign for Education UK policy group
Also launched at the event was a GCE UK policy briefing on education financing. The report explains that UK is a leading donor to global education and has an important role to play, it focuses on four areas where we believe the UK needs to act:
- Support developing countries to raise more money through tax prioritising equitable funding to education in public spending.
- Continue its leadership role and over time increase its aid spending on education.
- Support education through multilateral institutions, such as the GPE and help them to reach the Education Commission’s recommended $2bn per year.
- Lead on prioritising learning, with a strong focus on marginalised groups such as children with disabilities, girls, and children from fragile and conflict affected states to ensure that no child is left behind.
The report also highlighted that the UK currently does not have a clear strategy on global education. GCE UK would like to see the Government develop a new global education strategy that acts on their recommendations, including setting out how it will direct education spending towards improving education systems and reaching the most marginalised out-of-school children.
Several parliamentarians attended the event, including Chairman of the International Development Committee Stephen Twigg MP, and following the event APPG Chairman asked parliamentarians from across all parties to join him in writing to the Government. The cross-party group of parliamentarians, some members of the APPG and some not, called on the Government to develop a comprehensive new global education strategy to guide its investments.