BRUSSELS, Belgium – On June 26, 2014, influential leaders met at the Global Partnership for Education’s Replenishment Conference to pledge support for educational systems in their own countries and developing countries. The European Union hosted the conference in Brussels as a part of their campaign to ensure that all children worldwide will have access to education in the near future.
The results of the conference are extremely positive. The conference kick-started the Global Partnership’s second replenishment campaign. In this four-year plan, spanning from 2015-2018, GPE will work with donor partners to provide more children with accessible, formal education.
Without a doubt, much of the conference’s success can be attributed to advocates of educational funding in developing countries. Citizens of Africa, for example, ran the 10 Days to Act campaign in the days leading up to the summit in Brussels to increase awareness and ask global leaders to support funding for education in Africa.
Their efforts and the initiatives taken by many other activists and supporters certainly were not wasted. The following is a list of 10 interesting statistics relating to Thursday’s conference.
1. 57 Million
The number of children not receiving an education simply because they do not have access to school.
2. 250 Million
The number of children around the world that do not know how to write when they are the age of the average fourth grader.
3. 28.5 Billion
The combined amount of money, in U.S. dollars, that partners at the conference pledged to add to their current educational funds. This record-breaking quantity represents the money that governments will add to their national budgets to supplement educational funding within their own countries, and money that certain governments plan to give to developing nations to support their educational systems.
4. 53,000
The number of classrooms that the Global Partnership for education has built or renewed in supported countries during the last decade. This year’s conference ensured that GPE will receive funding to continue to build classrooms, train teachers and supply children with adequate learning materials.
5. 3.5 Billion
The number of U.S. dollars that the Global Partnership for Education would like to raise in donations between 2015 and 2018 as a part of their four-year replenishment plan. The 2014 GPE Replenishment Conference brought in half of the donor commitments needed to achieve this goal.
6. 66
The number of developing countries that will receive support and funding from GPE’s four-year replenishment plan.
7. 29 million
The increased number of children that could attend primary and secondary school if the GPE achieves its goal of raising $3.5 Billion by 2018.
8. 800
The approximate number of delegates present at Thursday’s conference.
9. 27
The number of countries that have agreed to increase their national budgets’ contributions to education.
10. 91
The number of countries that were represented in some capacity at the 2014 conference.
The 2014 GPE Replenishment Conference set plans into motion for global education. Conferences such as this one generate conversation about why every child needs to receive an education. The fact that the outcomes are predominantly positive proves that world leaders are willing to focus attention on the future of education. With increased funding for schools all around the world, there is reason to be more optimistic than ever.
– Emily Walthouse
Sources: Spy Ghana, Global Partnership for Education, StarAfrica
Photo: Results