21 April 2002

World Bank Education Plan to Require An Added $9,000 Million Annually

By Kathryn McConnell
Washington File Staff Writer

A plan to provide all children with primary education by 2015 proposed by the World Bank to its Development Committee April 21 would require an additional $9,000 million annually for the 47 countries with the lowest school completion rates, according to a Bank statement.

The statement added that most of this amount could be generated internally with more national commitment, but that $2,500 million to $5,000 million would need to come from external sources. This is less than the amount estimated at the March Financing for Development conference in Monterrey, Mexico, according to the statement.

The plan, called "Education for All," calls for a focus on curriculums, school completion rates and abolishment of user fees, said Eveline Herfkens, Dutch development cooperation minister at a World Bank news briefing preceding the committee meeting.

It is the "first focused plan to deliver a major millennium goal," added Gordon Brown, Britain's chancellor of the exchequer, at the briefing. The millennium goals adopted in 2000 by the United Nations include making significant improvements in education, gender equality, health care, and overcoming hunger and environmental degradation.

Because the problem of access to education affects girls more than boys, the education plan would also address the gender equality goal, said Paul Martin, the Canadian finance minister.

At the briefing, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said the education effort received broad support from the Group of Seven (G-7) finance ministers the previous day. The ministers are from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Wolfensohn said he also will promote the plan at the June meeting of the Group of Eight (G-8) in Canada. The G-8 is the G-7 plus Russia.

The Bank wants to implement the plan in an initial 10 countries to be selected by June 2002 and eventually expand it to include others. The Bank statement said a total of 88 countries are "at-risk" of not reaching the primary education goal. During the 1990s, primary school completion rates stagnated or declined in 29 countries, the statement said.

The goal is achievable "with creative delivery solutions, including the use of information technologies, flexible and targeted international support and overall reduction in poverty," the statement said.

It said that a child's sustainable learning begins only after completing five to six years of primary education of "reasonable quality."

It said the targeted countries should align their education policies with benchmarks, or norms, observed in countries with successful education systems. Some of these include efficient and effective use of resources, a focus on learning outcomes and specific actions to make schooling accessible for poor and disadvantaged children, especially girls. Of the 120 million children currently not in school, the majority are girls, according to the Bank.