RIGHTS-AFRICA: More Money Needed to Achieve Free Education

By James Hall Reprint | | Print |

James Hall

JOHANNESBURG, Apr 17 2003 (IPS) - 2015 is the date set for universal, free primary education for all children of Africa, a goal now 12 years in the future that has been agreed upon by the world’s finance and development ministers.

"A year has gone by since the spring of 2002, when the ministers endorsed a Fast Track Initiative to make primary education obtainable, indeed commonplace, for all of Africa’s children. But like so many arbitrary dates set in the future, it was a goal seemingly without real commitment," a source with the South African Ministry of Education told IPS this week.

The official was not quibbling over the date, but the financial means, and her disappointment has been echoed by the global developmental organisation Oxfam International.

"What we need is a war on poverty," said Phil Twyford, Director of Advocacy, Oxfam International. "For much less than the price of a stealth bomber you could tackle the education crisis in 10 of the world’s poorest countries and get five million children into school."

Twyford could not resist drawing military parallels, not only with the price comparison to a jet bomber, but with the cost of the current war in Iraq.

"80 billion U.S. Dollars could be found to finance the war in Iraq in a second," he said. "But there is no sign of the 50 billion U.S. Dollars needed to reach the developmental goal of universal primary education free of charge for the children of Africa. It is a clear case of money for the war, but nothing for the poor."

John Samuelson, an American teacher in Mozambique who is part of the U.S. Peace Corps programme, agreed with a qualification. "The comparison is not quite accurate, because you can argue that wars against dictators and terrorists get rid of unstable influences so we can have a peaceful world for education, but we can’t lose sight that not enough of the rich countries ‘ resources are channeled toward those who need education. The amount is really quite little to achieve a lot," he said.

"Rich countries are firing blanks in the war against poverty," said Twyford. "They couldn’t find the 800 million U.S. Dollars to kick-start the Fast Track (education) initiative to get every child into school in ten countries."

Following the fast track effort targeted at such poor African nations as Tanzania and Mozambique, the programme would expand to other poor nations. The first ten nations would receive all the financing they need to ensure all their school age children would be in the classroom come 2015.

"The programme would be incremental, with 100 percent attendance by 2015, but financing was to have started immediately," said a source with Oxfam.

Nevertheless, the organisation notes that several poor African nations have made progress this past year in education, citing Kenya, Mozambique, Niger and Tanzania. Where funding is lacking, innovation and the professional dedication of teaching staffs has accounted for progress.

This week, as Oxfam called for a "War on Poverty," again to be funded by the World Bank ("It is meant to be the World Bank, not the G-7 bank," Twyford said, referring to the G-7 top industrial nations who influence World Bank policy), relatively more affluent nations in Africa are taking bold initiatives to improve education in their countries. The government of Botswana this week commissioned a satellite link exclusively for scholastic and government use.

"An expanded Internet bandwidth will facilitate computer information download at schools," said Francis Moloto, a South African teacher under contract in Gaborone.

Swaziland was ranked last week as one of Africa’s six most affluent nations. "But this is relative to other African nations, and we are still unable to meet our ambition of free primary education for all Swazi children," said former education minister John Carmichael.

Carmichael’s goal, before he became Minister of Public Works earlier this month, was to ensure education for all children. But Swaziland’s tax base is still too small to generate sufficient revenue to finance the scheme.

South Africa’s educational system is growing from strength to strength, but still has glaring discrepancies between the nation’s top affluent private primary and secondary institutions, and the dirt poor rural and township schools where often more than 40 children cram into unlit, unheated classrooms.

These poorer children need more than standardised learning environments. Hunger is a hindrance to learning. In Lavumisa, Swaziland, in the heart of the drought belt, teacher Gideon Mahlalela told IPS how children were passing out from malnutrition in class, or simply gave up coming to school as a food shortage crisis affected over one-third of the Swazi population.

"UNICEF (the United Nation’s Children’s Fund) began a food feeding scheme. Children returned to school, because they knew they would get at least one meal a day. That was lunch, and then we added a breakfast. Now they are alert, lively, acting like children again," Mahlalela said.

Education continues to be a key development goal in Africa. Some 99 percent of illiterate people are found in the developing world, according to the Worldwatch Institute. Africa has the highest illiteracy rate of any region, about 40 percent of all adults.

African women are more likely to be illiterate, which is why developmental programmes tend to focus on girls.

"Education is important in efforts to achieve sustainable development for several reasons. It has a strong link to improved health: each additional year spent by mothers in primary school has been shown to lower the risk of premature child death by some eight percent," said educationist Gary Gardner.

Education also works to alleviate poverty by raising productivity, innovation and output, while reducing economic inequity.

For all these reasons, finance and development ministers were quick to agree to a fast-track approach in raising education levels in Africa’s poorest countries. A year later, money has not kept pace with commitment, said Oxfam. But at least awareness has not diminished.