The International Day of Education

By Michael Broner

The International Day of Education is held every year on the 24th January to emphasise the importance of education as a key fundamental human right and acknowledge its role in promoting peace and development. As RESULTS campaigners we commend past and current efforts by multilateral institutions, governments and non-governmental organisations in drafting policy frameworks and encouraging direct action that has improved access to free education for millions across the globe. Its inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals has put education at the front and centre of development endeavours. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside other geopolitical events, has stalled progress in the achievement of goal 4. In this post, we will reflect on the history of international education policy and advocacy. Simultaneously, we will examine the issue of women’s education in Afghanistan which is at the centre of this year’s call to action in achieving the provision of high-quality education for all.

The Fight for Universal Education

In December 2018, the UN General Assembly achieved a broad consensus for the adoption of resolution 73/25, designating January 24^th as the International Day of Education. This demonstrated the clear political will of the international community to support policy action for achieving equitable education for all. It reaffirmed the commitment of governments and stakeholders to achieving the SDGs and emphasised the centrality of education in eradicating poverty globally. However, its establishment is just one part of a broader effort, spanning several decades, in advocating for universal education as a key component of contemporary international development.

Most notably, Article 26 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was the first international agreement which inscribed the right to (primary) education into international law. Since then, several treaties and recommendations have been drafted and signed affirming this right to historically marginalised groups, women, migrant workers & families, and persons with disabilities – alongside the expansion of this right to forms of secondary and higher education.

‘To invest in people, prioritize education’

In light of 2023 marking the midpoint of the UN’s 2030 Agenda, this year’s theme emphasises the importance of education in attaining the aims codified within the SDGs. These include climate justice & sustainable development, gender equality, inclusion, and secure employment, among others. This is particularly important given that progress and cooperation on these issues have been disrupted by the recent COVID-19 pandemic and resulting global recession. Not to mention the negative and unequal impacts that necessary restrictions had on school participation and education systems across the globe, especially in developing countries. These implications were addressed by the UN Transforming Education Summit held last September, with the recovery of learning losses from the pandemic being the foregrounding objective of present national, and international responses. However, whilst we attempt to navigate the consequences of recent events, new and existing crises in education are emerging.

Fighting for Women’s Education in Afghanistan

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, there have been questions from the international community regarding whether Afghan women would be allowed to continue pursuing an education. Whilst the new leadership had initially vowed to respect women’s rights to education and employment, those have come under continuous attack as the Taliban have seized and consolidated power in the country. 

What initially began as gender segregation in classrooms and new restrictive dress codes became a full-scale assault on female higher education policy. In March 2022, the Taliban blocked the reopening of girls’ secondary schools with thousands of teenagers ordered to stay home and effectively banning girls above the sixth grade from receiving an education. This ban was extended to universities at the end of last year, with all universities instructed to suspend access to female students. 

These bans will, predictably, have a disastrous effect on girls’ and women’s education in the country. According to UNESCO, the country had seen a tenfold increase in enrolment at all education levels to 10 million from 2001 to 2018. This has coincided with a near-doubling of female literacy rates to 30% for all age groups combined.  Following the restrictions imposed by the Taliban, 1.1 million girls and young women will be left without formal education with 80%, or 2.5 million, of school-aged Afghan girls and young women currently out of school. Additionally, the suspension of university education will affect, approximately, a further 100,000 female students. 

These restrictions are already having a swift impact on the lives of women. For example, the US Institute of Peace reported last year that following the ban on secondary school education, young teenage girls were being increasingly married off by their families to shift support to their husbands. Alongside robbing women of their dignity and independence, the bans are also likely to have adverse effects on the whole Afghan economy and its society. As explained by UN Women, the combination of education, mobility & employment restrictions, could lose Afghanistan a substantial amount of its female workforce (women make up 17% of national employment figures). This would have a greater effect on sectors that consist of a higher proportion of women, particularly in teaching and healthcare provision. The reduced access to education risks cutting off the pipeline of educated women to fill high-skilled jobs, negatively impacting an already devastated nation.

Campaigning for Universal Education 

As campaigners with RESULTS, we will continue our mission to advocate for the rights of all peoples of the world through our campaign actions and events. However, there are many things that you can do to raise awareness. Be sure to check out the UN’s concept note for more information as to how you can get involved beyond the official observances of this month.

The International Development Strategy

By Alice Denning

So, what is the new UK’s international development strategy, otherwise known as the IDS? The short answer is; very difficult to read. After scrolling rather despairingly through the 32-page document multiple times, I returned to the summary at the top to give me the gist, hoping for an accurate, focused description of the UK’s planned aid budget complete with bullet points and statistics. Bullet points I had a-plenty, statistics; not so much. This is a running theme throughout this document, with plenty of laudable promises to “unleash the potential of people to take control” (or take back control; always good to recycle the old slogans), and “provide life-saving humanitarian assistance”. Great! Complete with the promise to return 0.7% of Gross National Income to UK Aid as soon as possible, the future looks rosy! However, the pesky niggle of “how” looms large in the background. Once I had delved into the whole document, over 3 days, complete with many unneeded tea, coffee, juice, water, google and toilet breaks (it really was heavy going), the future began to take on quite a different hue. The International Development Strategy; UK:130, Poverty Reduction:1

At first glance, it seems brilliant that a document written to outline the UK’s future direction in foreign development recognises so intelligently the need for sustainable growth in middle to low-income countries, to prevent the spiral into debt and decline. It seems to make sense to establish strong trading relationships with these countries in order to support them in the longer term. However, I feel the problem lies in the fact that the UK also benefits from this approach, leaving it open to bias and corruption. The document itself states that “since leaving the European Union, we (the UK) have full control over our trade policy and will use it to support long-lasting development.”. This is a lovely sentiment, but our current position amongst trading nations is far from strong. If you were in a government beleaguered by the rising cost of living and beset on all sides by demands for money, would you be prioritising a trade deal in a country that desperately needs your help but one in which you won’t see return on investment for a decade, and undercuts UK farmers into the bargain? Or would you want to prioritise a country that could “deliver for people here in the UK”,  “generate export opportunities in the UK” and “create jobs” across the UK?. Even an idealist would be tempted. And we are not ruled by idealists. Fair enough to want to put the UK first, but not when talking about how you are going to spend a specific portion of the budget set aside for aid. Moreover, it could be argued that this focus on spending money improving developing economies is in fact a false economy when it comes to poverty reduction at ground level, which is surely the definition of aid. It is in effect applying the policy of trickle-down economics to the world stage. Trickle-down economics is the idea that by cutting taxes on the wealthy, they then have more money to spend and thus it “trickles down” the economy in stages and ends up in the hands of the less well off. Dreamt up by (surprise, surprise) the wealthy, this has a hint of the feudal system about it. Just go and tell the peasants to stand in the field with their hands open, praying to the money gods that the pounds will roll down the feudal pyramid and fall from the sky. They’ll wait there long enough for this all to blow over.

 A paper published by David Hope and Julian Limberg at the LSE in 2020 studying the effect on major tax cuts for the rich in 18 OECD countries over the last five decades, has proven that “reducing taxes on the rich lead(s) to higher income inequality” and does “not have any significant effect on economic growth and unemployment”. Highlight “growth”- synonymous with development. The policy of only investing aid in the economy, helping the rich become richer, to stimulate growth- the main focus of the IDS- has been proven, over five decades, to be useless! In contrast, the global fund, set up in 2002 to end global TB, malaria and AIDS, is a financing mechanism only; it does not implement its own policies, it provides the finance and allows countries to propose and lead the implementation. Can you imagine an IDS document that instead of referencing the UK 130 times, referenced the UK only once, at the start of a document dedicated to outlining country-led approaches to aid? And country-led aid works. The number of deaths caused by AIDS, TB and malaria each year have been reduced by 46% since 2002 in countries where the Global Fund invests^1.. Moreover, progress is assessed 18 months into the implementation of the Global Fund grant, and funding is only continued if progress can be proven. Also, unlike the IDS, the Global Fund does what it says on the tin. It provides a global solution to a global problem, by combining multilateral aid from more than 80 countries. The IDS is stepping back from this global approach, to have “more and closer bilateral partnerships” with developing countries, and in doing so “substantially rebalance its ODA (Official Development Assistance) investments from multilateral towards bilateral channels”. The FCDO is aiming, by 2025, to spend around three quarters of its funding on bilateral programs. This means that despite the current geopolitical situation, the UK is continuing in the wake of Brexit to isolate itself from its global partners and attempt to ‘go it alone’. This is not only potentially damaging for the UK; it also means that the ODA will be spent less effectively in the future as it will not be added to a larger fund to tackle a country-led initiative, but will be parcelled up to fund a smaller investment prioritised by the UK. 

I could go into more detail, about how the “UK Centres of Expertise” set up to share UK skills and knowledge with our developing neighbours smack so much of colonialism I wonder how that was even considered acceptable branding, or about how the commitments to end conflicts do not for a second admit any UK responsibility for any conflicts, past or present. The grim reality is that the UK is set on a very different course of international aid than perhaps first appears. What is the International Development Strategy? Very difficult reading, and for all its many words, it can be summed up in two numbers. The UK, whom the document is written for but should not be about, is referenced 130 times. Poverty reduction; the very definition of international aid and the only thing the document should be about, is referenced only once.

1. ^{Results UK: An introduction to the Global Fund}
2. ^{The Economic Consequences of Major Tax Cuts for the Rich. A working paper by:  David Hope, Julian Limberg 2020}
3. ^{The UK Government’s Strategy for International Development} 
4. ^{Overview of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by Celina Schocken}
5. ^{Action Sheet – June 2022 .pdf (results.org.uk)}

^{Interesting links:}

Post-Brexit aid policy: what is aid for trade? And what is it not? | Bond

Overview of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria | Center for Global Development | Ideas to Action (cgdev.org)

Working Paper 55 (lse.ac.uk) ^{(The Economic Consequences of Major Tax Cuts for the Rich.)}

The International Development Strategy: a rapid assessment | Bond

The UK Government’s Strategy for International Development – CP 676 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Overview of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria | Center for Global Development | Ideas to Action (cgdev.org)

Action Sheet – June 2022 .pdf (results.org.uk)

Education that leaves no one behind

RESULTS campaigners this month have been focussed on the upcoming Global Partnership for Education (GPE) funding replenishment set to happen at the start of February in Dakar. The GPE is a vital multilateral partnership that provides funds to developing countries while also encouraging governments to increase their education spending. It plays a crucial role in ensuring that children all over the globe are able to go to school and it is critical to the success of goal number 4 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.

It is estimated that around 264 million children worldwide are out of school, and many children who are in school but who live in low to middle-income countries do not attain more than a basic primary education. This has a devastating effect, not just on the lives of the individuals who lack the basic means to escape poverty, but because an uneducated population is a harmful impediment to social and economic progress as well.

We know that education is key to eradicating poverty worldwide— 420 million people would be lifted out of poverty if primary and secondary education could be achieved universally by adulthood. Education is essential for creating fairer, more equitable societies, where children are provided with the skills they need to become thriving and productive citizens. Without an effective education system economies cannot grow, healthcare systems are unable to provide adequate treatment, and the likelihood of violent conflict increases significantly. This report conducted by the Education Commission outlines why it is so important that investment into education is at the heart of any development strategy.

The GPE replenishment is an opportunity for governments to restate their commitment to fulfilling the SDGs and has the potential to change the lives of millions of children. This is why, as RESULTS campaigners, we have been calling on the UK government to pledge at least £380 million to the replenishment. This figure has been calculated to ensure that all of the GPE’s targets can be met.

Photo credit : GPE/Nayan Tara Gurung Kakshapati

One of the amazing things about campaigning with RESULTS is the opportunity to hear from people working on the frontlines of development. Not only do their expertise help us to campaign more effectively, but they are also able to draw attention to some of the issues that are so easily overlooked. It is all too often the case that the most marginalised in society are the ones who are forgotten about or who are not prioritised by governments and policy makers.

On the conference call this month we had the privilege of hearing from guest speaker Nafisa Baboo, the Senior Inclusive Education Advisor at Light for the World, an NGO committed to creating an inclusive society where even the most marginalised have an equal stake. Light for the World specialises in providing support and resources to policy makers, teachers and activists, to ensure that disabled children are never left out of the classroom.

Nafisa spoke to us about the work that Light for the World does on inclusive education, which also happens to be one of the main areas of focus for the GPE. I was startled to discover that 90% of children with disabilities are out of school worldwide—that’s more than 32 million children who are not receiving an education of some kind.

There are many reasons for this, but the biggest barriers for getting disabled children into education are a lack of teachers with the adequate training necessary to support them in the classroom, and also the stigma that many families with disabled children face from society. Another barrier is the lack of resources and teaching materials available for students with a diverse range of needs—for instance, the shortage of braille books for those who are visually impaired.

Photo credit : GPE/Kelley Lynch

Campaigning on education is one of the main issues that motivates me as an activist, but while I understand the necessity of making sure that all children, regardless of ability, should have equal access to an education, hearing from Nafisa made me realise just how essential it is to make sure children who are physically or mentally impaired are also able to participate in mainstream schools. So why is inclusivity of education, as opposed to the creation of specialised schools, of such fundamental importance?

Because this is about more than just providing children with the basic numeracy and literacy skills necessary for them to have a chance at a decent livelihood. It is also about building strong communities and dismantling the negative stereotypes surrounding those with disabilities. It builds the confidence and self-esteem of people who may otherwise feel excluded from society, and forges strong communal ties where diversity is foundational to that strength.

An inclusive education system is something that benefits everyone, not just those with disabilities. It encourages innovative teaching that starts with teachers who understand the needs of their students and who can then teach them based upon those needs, improving the learning experience of every student. Ultimately, as Nafisa tells us on the call, an inclusive education system “promotes a more tolerant and inclusive society”, because “children who learn together, will learn to live together”.

Organisations like the GPE are vital in making inclusive education happen. They can provide the resources and training necessary for schools, teachers, and policy makers to help children overcome the barriers keeping them out of school. But in order to achieve this goal it is essential that the GPE receives the funding it needs.

If you want to take action on this issue please consider signing this letter to the Secretary of State for International Development Penny Mordaunt encouraging her to pledge the £380 million needed to transform the lives of millions of children all over the world. You can also come along to our monthly meetings (see our Brighton Meetup page for more information) where we hear from experts like Nafisa and where you have the opportunity to meet and talk with other campaigners who all share a passion for issues like this one.