Chance to boost education for all

IF it is possible for a raised hand or a nod of the head to alter the course of history – and it is – then this weekend could be momentous. Two days to make good on a promise. Fortyeight hours that can change the lives of 825 MILLION children. One single decision at the G20 in Hamburg. While we as an international community are pledged to secure universal primary and secondary education by 2030, there is today a $90billion-a-year aid funding gap that will leave at least 200 million children out of school in 2030 and 400 million children without the even the basic primary-level qualifications they need. All told, 825 million – half the world’s youth generation – will not have the qualifications they need for the jobs of the future. But there is one initiative that, if adopted this weekend, can restart the momentum to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and relieve the funding crisis preventing the realisation of universal education. Before the G20 is a plan – ambitious but totally realistic – that envisions a world where education is no longer chronically underfinanced. The proposal, an International Finance Facility for Education, could deliver up to $10billion a year in additional education funding, virtually doubling global aid for education. Delivering on that promise for all children is the civil rights struggle of our age. And it can be won, for history proves what is possible. In the 1960s, the world marched for black civil rights. In the 1970s and 80s people came together to boycott a South African regime and end the oppressive forces of apartheid. And, in the past two decades, the avenues to guarantee rights of women, people with disabilities and LGBT persons have been expanded. In all of these realms, there is still work to be done. The fight to secure children’s rights, which has too long been neglected, now deserves the same relentless commitment. One weekend – one decision.