Basic Education Policy Statement

2008 G8 Summit
December 21, 2007

We applaud the leadership role of the United States in identifying education as one of its three top
development priorities. President Bush has stated: “The United States of America is committed to
helping people rise out of poverty, to be able to realize their full potential, and that starts with a good
education.” We particularly applaud President Bush’s announcement in May 2007 of an Expanded
Education Program that would provide an additional 4 million children with accountable and quality
basic education, deliver technical training for 100,000 at-risk youth; and coordinate with child health
programs that impact educational attainment.

Interaction’s G8 NGO Coordination Group respectfully asks that the United States to ensure
education is included in the G-8 Summit agenda and within its communiqué a statement that would:

1) Commit the G-8 to achieving the estimated annual $11 billion funding level considered
necessary to reach Education for All;
2) Renew the G-8 commitment to the universal primary education MDG and gender equality at all
levels of education, with increased attention to fragile and conflict affected states;
3) Affirm a new G-8 commitment to ensure that education is an integral part of humanitarian
responses to conflict and emergencies;
4) Continue improvements in access and quality, including in conjunction with, but not limited to, a
country's national education plan;
5) Urge the IMF to take social sector needs into consideration and to act as an advocate for
increased investment in education when negotiating macroeconomic framework agreements;
and
6) Allocate sufficient funding for adult literacy for the achievement of all the MDGs.

Challenges to achieving Education for All (EFA)

Today, while progress is being made towards the Millennium Development Goals, approximately 72
million children are still out of school. More than half of the world’s out of school children are in
conflict-affected countries or fragile states. Three-fifths of out-of-school children are girls. Globally,
half of school age children who start primary school drop out because of poor quality and economic
need. Hundreds of millions more are denied a secondary school education. Globally, roughly 781
million adults are illiterate.

A shortage of adequately trained teachers and a lack of textbooks, learning materials and classroom
resources, underscore significant quality problems in too many countries. School fees and poor
quality are obstacles for many children, particularly girls, HIV/AIDS orphans, and other vulnerable
children. IMF macroeconomic policies restrict governments' ability to utilize foreign assistance for
education, particularly through wage ceilings that prevent the training, hiring, and retaining of
teachers. Conflict affected and fragile states have the highest numbers of out-of-school children, yet
they receive significantly less basic education aid than all other countries. The availability of pre-
primary education in the developing world remains low.

Uneducated children in the developing world are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses,
including trafficking, forced child labor, early child marriage, and indoctrination into the ranks of
child soldiers and militias, and are more likely to fall victim to deadly disease, including HIV/AIDs,
and other serious health problems.

Education and development, security, and human rights

Education is fundamental to sustainable development. It builds civil society and respect for rule of
law, and helps eliminate corruption. Education also saves lives by providing children and youth with
the tools to avoid HIV/AIDS and other deadly diseases. It allows farmers to be more productive
through implementation of the latest agricultural methods.

Education leads to economic and political security and builds stronger, healthier families. Educated
women tend to marry later in life, and their children have higher survival rates and are more likely to
succeed and stay in school. Education is particularly important for women and girls, boosting their
economic productivity, reducing poverty, increasing life expectancy, and improving the health, well-
being, and educational prospects of the next generation.

Education is a human right, enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the
Convention on the Rights of the Child. Schools offer safety and protection to children in emergencies
and conflicts. Education is one of the best ways to prevent child labor, trafficking of children, child
soldiers and child marriage, and schools help to reintegrate children returning home after conflict.

Recommendations for the G-8 on education

1. Commit ourselves to achieving the estimated annual $11 billion funding level considered
necessary to reach EFA. This commitment requires strong support for UNESCO and World Bank
Education initiatives, particularly the Fast Track Initiative. In this regard, we will strive to fully finance
the national education plans of all countries endorsed by 2008, and to achieve new and reinforced
approaches to sustainable funding via partnerships between government, industry and civil society.
This commitment further requires: (a) improving investment and coordination between all players in
the provision of education to maximize international and national resources; (b) continuing to
combat corruption and lack of transparency in service delivery; and (c) building human capital and
systems to design and implement education programs.

2. Recall the G-8 Communiqués in Okinawa and Gleneagles respecting EFA, and renew our
commitment to the Millennium Development Goals of universal primary education and gender
equality at all levels of education, and resolve to help countries, with increased attention to fragile
and conflict affected states, achieve the goals of the EFA agenda;

3. Affirm a new G-8 commitment to ensure that education is an integral part of humanitarian
responses to conflict and emergencies, complying with the Minimum Standard for Education in
Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction, and that long-term, predictable aid for basic
education in conflict-affected fragile states is increased;

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4. Resolve to continue improvements in access and quality, including in conjunction with, but not
limited to, a country's national education plan;1

5. Urge the MF to take social sector needs into consideration and to act as an advocate for
increased investment in education when negotiating macroeconomic framework agreements with
developing country governments. Specifically, the IMF should: (a) support policies in borrowing
countries that will allow for the rapid expansion of the teaching service where a shortage of teachers
is a constraint to EFA; (b) support policies that allow for the payment of a living wage to teachers,
and health care and other professionals in the social sectors; and (c) encourage the programming of
increased foreign aid for education; and

6. Allocate sufficient funding for adult literacy for the achievement of all the MDGs. This should
include committing to raising greater public awareness of the importance of eliminating adult
illiteracy, and calling on governments to allocate sufficient funds for programs addressing adult
illiteracy.

December 21, 2007

The following organizations contributed the education policy statement
Basic Education Coalition
Save the Children
RESULTS Education Fund

For questions or feedback please contact:

John Ruthrauff
Senior Manager of Member Advocacy
InterAction
1400 16th Street NW, Suite 210
Washington DC 20036
jruthrauff@interAction.org
202-552-6523

InterAction is the largest alliance of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian

nongovernmental originations. With more than 165 members operating in every developing country,
we work to overcome poverty, exclusion, and suffering by advancing social justice and basic dignity
for all.

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This commitment is undertaken with the understanding that such improvements demand progress in
reducing global poverty, and require: (a) eliminating school fees; (b) training new teachers, providing
relevant curricula, learning materials and assessment systems, and building infrastructure to improve
access and quality; (c) enabling a greater focus on monitoring and assessment of learning; (d) improving
school management and local accountability through parent and community participation; (e) identifying
and replicating successful interventions that improve the ability of children to learn, such as school lunch
and school health programs; (f) promoting the expansion of early childhood care and education to
facilitate higher primary school enrollment and better results in the first years of school; (g) promoting
civic education and life skills training and ensuring that schools are not incubators for extremism; and
(h) supporting initiatives that reach the most disadvantaged populations, including girls, HIV/AIDS
orphans, those with disabilities, and minority linguistic groups.
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