United States

During 2006 Global Education Action Week, young people spoke with Hillary Clinton about the importance of U.S. support for universal education.

credit: Sharon Farmer, GCE-USA

Countries around the world have pledged to make universal primary education a reality by 2015. This cause requires a financial commitment on behalf of rich nations. Rich countries’ aid is significantly important in providing teachers, books and other learning materials, and improving classrooms and other school conditions.

In 2006, total bilateral aid increased to $3.3 billion per year. However, estimates suggest that the total amount required in order to reach the goal of universal primary education is at least $9-10 billion per year. Some countries, such as Sweden, Norway and Luxembourg, have made great strides to contribute their share of the funding needed for universal primary education.  In 2006, the UK government announced a commitment of US$15 billion over ten years for education in poor countries. Accordingly, the UK expects to provide approximately US$1.5 billion per year.

Other rich countries, such as Japan, Italy, Germany and the United States, have not been doing as well to meet their commitments to ensuring access to education for the world’s poor children.

Did you know…

• The two richest countries in the world, the United States and Japan, provide less than 10% of their relative share of funding for achieving universal primary education.
• The United States is over $2 billion short on living up to its fair share and spends one-third less as much as the UK on universal education - even though the US economy is six times larger!
• The U.S. spent approximately $520 million on basic education in 2006; the U.S. estimated "fair share" is US$2.5-$3.0 billion.
• For the price of just one Cruise missile, 100 schools could be built in Africa.
• Currently, for every dollar of national income, rich countries give only about one-quarter of a cent in aid. Basic education gets about 3% of this amount.