World Leaders Must Cast Their Vote For 12 Years Of Free Education For Every Child

This week, millions of young people, members of the public and education campaigners across the world are taking to the streets, the airways and social media to mark the Global Campaign for Education’s Global Action Week. They are coming together to ask the world’s leaders to “vote for education” in the Sustainable Development Goal decisions they make this year. The Malala Fund is joining that call.

We want governments to agree at the UN General Assembly in September that every child should be able to participate in free, good quality primary and secondary education. That’s at least 12 years of education. At the moment poorest girls in the poorest communities get less than three.

But commitments themselves aren’t enough. 2015 will only prove a milestone for education and truly transform the lives of millions of young people if the world’s leaders put their promises into action.

How?

1. By providing at least 12 years of fee-free education. Tuition fees hugely restrict young people’s ability to participate in and complete secondary education. This is especially true for girls. When parents have to pay for education, it is girls that are routinely discriminated against. 36% of low income countries charge fees at the start of secondary school and 53% charge fees by the last year. Experience at the level of primary education demonstrates that removing fees can have a strong and positive impact on enrollment in school.

2. By increasing funding for education. Achieving good quality, fee-free education for all will require more money going to education. 15 years ago, when the last set of global commitments to education was made, governments pledged that no country would be prevented from achieving them by a lack of resources. This promise was not kept.

A global target has been set for governments to spend between 4% and 6% of their gross national product (GNP) on education in order to make good their promise. Today, only 96 of 142 countries with information available meet this minimum 4% target. Nearly half of the countries that charge school fees for secondary school do not meet it. Added to this, donor aid for secondary education has risen very little over the past 20 years, from an already low level.

3. By counting better. Knowing who is and isn’t in school and how those who are benefiting from it, is critical to designing policies and programs that better meet the challenge of providing every young person with a good quality education. There are significant gaps in the information that is currently collected on who is and is not participating in education, particularly for the final years of secondary education. In many countries, upper secondary school statistics are simply not reported.

For more than 121 million children missing out on education, and millions more in school but not learning, 2015 is a global milestone and a very personal one. That’s why world leaders must use this year to cast their vote for 12 years of free good, quality education for every child when they meet in New York in September. Then, to transform this promise into reality, they must take action.

Will you join our movement to make sure that happens? Join the Malala Fund and stay updated in our fight for 12 years of free education for ALL children.