AFP: Britain leads World Bank push to put every child in school

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Britain leads World Bank push to put every child in school 21 April 2006Agence France PresseWASHINGTON, April 21, 2006 (AFP) -Britain Friday appealed to its rich partners to end the "scandal" of 100 million children in developing countries who are deprived of an education. Finance minister Gordon Brown said Britain was extending another 170 million dollars over two years toward a World Bank "fast-track initiative" to bring elementary schooling to children everywhere. That was on top of a British aid package worth 15 billion dollars spread over 10 years that Brown announced in Mozambique earlier this month. Finance ministers of the powerful Group of Seven nations would address the education funding debate at talks here Friday, the British chancellor of the exchequer told a news conference. "It is one of the world's greatest scandals, that must now be addressed, that 100 million children are not going to school today, denied one of the most basic rights of all," Brown said. Under the UN's "Millennium Development Goals", the international community has pledged to bring primary education to every child by 2015. But the World Bank says progress toward the target has fallen "woefully short".Campaigners said Britain had raised the pressure on other G7 countries such as the United States, France, Germany and Italy to boost their "miserly" levels of aid for education.But they also demanded an end to budget policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund that, it was claimed, prevent poor countries from spending enough on schools, books and teachers' salaries.Rick Rowden, US policy analyst for ActionAid International, said IMF-imposed caps on Kenya had prevented the African country from hiring the 60,000 teachers it needs to expand primary schooling."Instead of being accountable to the needs of their population, leaders are beholden to the unyielding demands of unelected IMF bureaucrats who are more concerned with keeping inflation unnecessarily low than putting children in school," he said.World Bank president Wolfowitz underlined the scale of the funding problem as well as the potential benefits if the money is found. "The principle of investing in education is clear -- it is an investment that brings returns for decades," he told the news conference.Wolfowitz said that 20 developing countries were now on board the World Bank initiative, which was launched in 2002 but which has struggled to get funding from rich donors.The total foreign aid needed for the 20 countries this year alone is 1.1 billion dollars, but there is a shortfall in promised aid of 510 million dollars.If another 40 countries achieve their ambition of joining the initiative by 2008, the total aid needed would be 3.7 billion dollars.Wolfowitz, the former US deputy defence secretary, said Britain and the Netherlands were "outstanding" examples of rich countries that are meeting their aid promises.But he identified his own country as one of the laggards. "So the US could do a lot more. So could just about every G7 country with the exception of the UK," the World Bank chief said. [see excerpt from transcript below]Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, whose own country has seven million children out of school, said African governments were trying to help themselves.She noted that African finance and education ministers are to meet over May 20-22 in the Nigerian capital Abuja for a conference that is due to be attended also by Brown and Wolfowitz.But she added: "If we make these education plans, and we don't get the support we need, it will be a scandal."It will mean that we are condemning whole new generations of girls and boys from not having the basis to escape from poverty," she said, inviting donors "to put your money where your mouth is".

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TRANSCRIPT OF WOLFOWITZ STATEMENT:

MR. WOLFOWITZ: Well, we know who the leaders are, and they are sitting up here--the UK and the Netherlands have been really outstanding.

Let me say as far as the United States is concerned, I think you could say on the one hand there has been a significant improvement from 2002 to 2004 from about $100 million to $260 million--if you stop and think about it, that's about $1 per capita whereas I think the UK number is now up to $20 per capita. So the U.S. could do a lot more. So could just about every

G-7 country with the exception of the UK.