Sections
DONATE
SUPPORT WWW.JOLLOFNEWS.COM
Account Login
Regional Education Financing Workshop begins
Monday, 27 September 2010 23:03
By Abdoulie JohnEducation for All Network (EFANet), in collaboration with African Network for Education for All (ANCEFA), Education International, ActionAid and GCE on Monday organized a five-day workshop on Education Financing.
This civil society organizations meeting, which is being held at Coco Ocean Hotel in Bijilo, from September 27 to October 1st, brings together experts from across anglophone West Africa. As the third of its kind, the regional workshop constitutes a follow-up of a 2009 meeting which representatives of EFANet, Gambia Teachers Union (GTU), and ActionAid International attended in Accra, Ghana. One of the key recommendations of that workshop was for participants from each country programme to organise an experience-sharing workshop with their constituent partners.
In her address, Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, Fatou Lamin Faye, recalled that more than 40 years ago, the nations of the world through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserted that “everyone has a right to education”. But, she said, despite notable efforts made by developing countries to ensure the right to education, the persistence of drastic realities reminds them that there is still a long way to go.
“Over 100 millions children, two-third of whom had no access to primary education; more than 700 million adults, two-thirds of whom were women, were illiterate and functional literacy had been a significant problem.” And the list is far from being exhaustive…
In the light of these realities, she indicated that there had been a gradual growth in non-formal education and skills training. While, she went on, the levels of illiteracy remain unacceptably high a level of progress had been achieved.
Taking into consideration the fact that the Gambia government’s strategy clearly specifies that education constitutes a priority area of basic social services, she therefore highlighted the contrast characterized by the high population growth, the high dependency ratio and poverty levels that will hamper the sector’s demand for the allocation of more resources in order to reach the goals set out.
“This exacerbated by the increasing share of domestic debt servicing coupled with the unfortunate effects of climate change such as heavy floods whose repercussion can slow the rate of access to education, inequitable provision of educational services and above all, dilute the quality of education which, by all accounts, remains a significant challenge in our education system.”
To break the vicious cycle of lack of adequate resources for the education sector, she made it clear that knowledge in educational financing is a sine qua non for any successful endeavour.
“It is against this background that this workshop is being held in order to provide sufficient capacity to education advocates in education financing.” She concluded by assuring the gathering of the government’s commitment to Education for All as it is more urgent than ever before.
Speaking earlier, ActionAid Country Director Dr. Kujejatu Manneh explained that in spite of the progress made over these past years in the education sector there is still much more to be done in the coming years if the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals are to be attained by 2015.
She seized the opportunity to unveil the reality prevailing in the sector as the commitments made by various international partners to make resources available to governments with sound plans and resource availability has become the single most important concern in improving quality of education in developing countries.
“Ministries of education have little or no control over their budgets. Most importantly because of policies imposed by international institutions, Education Ministries are not at liberty to hire and train enough teachers to guarantee quality education,” she said.
She then called on participants to understand key issues relating to financing education in order to enable them develop national campaigns on education financing susceptible to suit their environment.
In a similar vein, the EFANet Gambia Chairperson, Omar Ndure, pointed out that global recession will continue to be an easy excuse on the part of donors for not doing more. “However, it is time for us also to look inwardly and engage in robust fund raising locally for sustainability purpose. We must be seen to be adding value and supplementing what is provided for by donors,” he stated.
The Banjul meeting is expected to build the capacity of participants to understand key issues relating to financing education in their respective countries; to develop a national campaign on education financing, tailored to the national context that builds on existing initiatives.
In providing a dedicated forum for the exchange of knowledge among participants, the education financing workshop will certainly open optimistic perspectives for the education sector for the countries involved in the process.
Jollofnews Poll
Who do you think should be the next President of The Gambia?
Follow us on Twitter
-
Anti-cuts protest at Clegg's homeHundreds of anti-cuts protesters gather outside Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's home in south-west London.
-
Egypt candidate to seek election suspension: lawyerCAIRO (Reuters) - Leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahy will file an appeal for Egypt's presidential election...
-
Bristol Rovers Speed Merchant Could Be Racing To Posh(GamSports) – Peterborough United are thought to be one of a number of Championship sides...