NEW YORK, Sept 25, CMC – Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries together with multilateral organisations have made an urgent call for increase financing for education in the LAC.
Their calls came in an event on the sidelines of the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), and are supported by UNICEF, UNESCO, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) as well as the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), the Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE), and the Varkey Foundation.
They are calling on countries to invest now to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG-4), which seeks to ensure inclusive, equitable and quality education.
“Education is the driver of development and the key to transforming our societies; therefore, in the Dominican Republic we are determined to make schools the centre of development and public policies, where the future of our nation is forged,” said Luis Rodolfo Abinader Corona, President of the Dominican Republic.
“We invite all sectors of society to join this effort. It is a commitment we must make together to ensure that education is, essentially, the pillar of equitable and sustainable development in our region.”
Chile’s Education Minister, Nicolás Cataldo, said as co-chairs of the SDG 4 High-Level Steering Committee, it is essential to participate in and promote initiatives like these to amplify decisions taken at the global and regional levels related to education.
ECLAC’s executive secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, said Latin America and the Caribbean needs to invest more and better in education.
“It must do so in a sustained way to overcome the development crisis, and to escape the traps of high inequality, low growth, and low institutional and governance capacities in which it finds itself caught.
“Countries need to expand their fiscal space to be able to invest more and in a more sustained way in education throughout the entire life cycle. Sufficient and sustainable investment over time must be distributed in an equitable and efficient way,” said Salazar-Xirinachs.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, 75 per cent of students in the region do not achieve basic skills in mathematics and 50 per cent in reading.
The limited realization of the right to education in the region has deepened in recent years due to prolonged crises, the impact of multiple emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and persistent inequalities.
“If you want economic success, if you want jobs, if you want growth, if you want investments, make sure your education system is delivering. There is no other way, right now,” said economist Jeffrey Sachs.
Although countries have made significant efforts to reach the agreed minimum funding for education, at least four per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and 15 per cent of total public expenditure, the sustainability of funding remains a challenge and the region is lagging behind.
Currently, on average, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries invest about five times more per student than the average for Latin America and the Caribbean.
As a result, the LAC, together with the coalition of multilateral organizations, are urging all governments in the region, international cooperation, civil society and the private sector to ensure enabling conditions and adequate, sustainable, equitable and efficient financing for education.
In particular they want increase public investment in education, prioritizing the allocation of resources in areas where evidence shows higher returns and for students in situations of greater vulnerability.
Enhance sustainable financing strategies for education, increasing the mobilization of resources for education through instruments such as progressive fiscal policies. In addition, complement these efforts with innovative measures such as the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) multiplier fund, debt swaps, blended financing, among others.
Increase the share of official development assistance allocated to education, fostering long-term investments in public education systems.
CMC/af/ir/2024