Global Campaign for Education Press Release

16th June 2006

Broken Promises: on the 30th Anniversary of the Day of the African Child

"Promises to children should never be broken" (Nelson Mandela, 10th March 2006)

In Africa today over 40 million children are living with the
consequences of broken promises - the promise of being able to go to
school. Two thirds of all children in Africa will not complete five
years of education.

The world's leaders have made this promise time and time again. The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Education for All Goals,
the Millennium Development Goals and the African Charter on the Rights
and Welfare of the Child all endorse children's right to complete a
basic education of good quality.

Time is running out for the world to keep their promises…

If all children are to complete primary education by 2015, they have
to be enrolled in school by 2009 at the latest. That is why we must
see action today. All governments must live up to the 'global
compact' – that countries with good strategies would be fully financed
by donor cash - to meet this goal immediately. Last weekend, the
finance ministers of rich countries once again re-iterated the
importance of Education For All. But they left the table without
making any firm commitments of new money to realize this dream.

Donor governments must increase aid and cancel debt to African
countries so that they can expand their education systems. As a
first step must fill the EFA Fast Track Initiative's finance gap of
$415 million to help 20 countries with 16 million children out of
school deliver their education plans. And next month GCE demands the
G8 to keep their promises and announce that they will provide full
funding so that 100 million children around the world will not be left
waiting at the school gates – an amount of approximately $10 billion
per year.

Governments in Africa must also play their part by increasing public
spending on education in order to give every child the opportunity to
go to school for free and to ensure they receive a quality education,
with a well-trained, motivated teacher. On average Sub-Saharan
Africa countries spend less money on education than on health or on
defense.

The Struggle for Education Continues…

In South Africa the Day of the African Child 16th June, marks the 30
year anniversary of the Soweto uprisings. Thousands of children took
to the streets in demand of equal education. Today those children and
the brutal repression that followed will be remembered along with
their demands.

It is not acceptable that in 2006 children in South Africa and across
the continent find that their quality education is dependent on their
class and their ability to pay. Children are often excluded or
victimized from school because their parents are not able to pay for
school fees and other costs, such as transport, learning materials and
uniforms.

To remind South Africa that we have yet to reach our demands, GCE is
putting the writing on the wall. In Soweto a large mural will be
unveiled that depicts children campaigning for education 30 years ago
and today – with the words: 30 years later: the struggle for education
continues…

Broken promises of education have a high price to pay. There is
overwhelming evidence that education – particularly for girls – can
break the cycle of poverty and reduce the risk of HIV infection.
Lacking education, children often have no choice other than a life of
a child worker, child soldier, or street child.

Now is the time to keep our promises to education.

Notes to Editors:

Alex Kent – 011 447 4111 or 076 428 5390

The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) has been campaigning to make
the right to education a reality since 1999, across the world, and
South Africa. The campaign is a coalition of teachers unions, child
rights activities, NGOs and academics, and is now active in more than
110 countries. GCE's recent Global Action Week mobilized millions of
campaigners who collected evidence for the need for more teachers, and
made demands to politicians when they returned to school.
www.campaignforeducation.org