Press release on
Global Action Week for Education 2021
The Arab Campaign
for Education for All: launches the slogan of “Education in Danger”
The revival of the Global Action Week for
Education is an annual event revived by the global education movement, with
broad and effective participation of civil society organizations and citizens.
The activities of this week will be
launched on April 26, 2021, under the slogan of financing education, and in
exceptional circumstances characterized by the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic
and the beginning of the emergence of its painful repercussions on all aspects of
life, especially the deprivation of hundreds of millions of students from
joining school seats, in addition to the dramatic increase in students’ repetition,
dropout, and academic achievement rates.
Since 2015, world leaders have committed
themselves to 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda, especially the fourth
education goal, which stipulates “Ensuring quality, inclusive and equitable
education and promoting lifelong education opportunities for all by the year
2030”. This pledge requires everyone to make the issue of financing education a
top priority and concern, and the essence of all issues, considering education
as a locomotive to achieve all other development goals.
The Arab Campaign for Education for All,
as an inclusive framework that includes the various Arab educational coalitions
and a large number of Arab civil society organizations working in the field of
education, and out of the responsibility towards education issues in the Arab
world, and believing that education represents an inherent fundamental human
right, it calls all
governments to:
·
Carrying
out its responsibilities in order to reduce the negative effects of the
Covid-19 pandemic, which is mainly represented in depriving millions of
students from the interruption and instability of the educational process,
which represents a terrible breach of the fourth goal of the sustainable
development goals, and reflects the weakness, shortcomings and defects of the
prevailing educational systems.
·
Increasing
state funding for education to 20% of public spending, which ensures relatively
good functioning of the educational system in light of the decline in the value
of local currencies and the increase in the value of education-related imports.
·
Adopting
principles of governance, especially transparency and accountability, in all
issues related to financing education at the national and international levels.
·
Adopting a
fair tax policy and working on adopting economic policies that contribute to
developing production and raising the gross domestic product.
·
Providing
free, quality education for all, and ending the trend towards privatization and
commercialization of education.
·
Improving
the quality of teaching through appropriate recruitment, rewards and continuous
training for teachers.
·
Listen and
respond to the voices of those affected. Space must be allowed for individuals
and civil society to express their views.
The Arab Campaign for Education for All
calls on all international financial institutions to:
§ Urgent debt cancellation for poor and
least developed countries; And debt relief for middle- and upper-income
countries, in order to help them cope with the repercussions of the Covid-19
pandemic.
§ International transcontinental companies
carry their responsibilities and play a greater role in financing education by
increasing tax contributions for the benefit of the countries in which they
operate.
§ Raise the contribution of donors to raise the
level of response to achieve the targets of the fourth goal of the sustainable
development plan, and overcome the disastrous effects of the Corona.
§ Developed countries should continue to
work towards achieving the target of 0.7% of foreign aid, with 20% of it to be spent
on education, and increasing their contributions to the Global Partnership for Education
and Education Cannot Wait.
§ To accelerate assistance in countries
that suffer from conflicts, conflicts and instability, and to ensure the
implementation of the right to education in them, and the return of educational
life to its normal path.
§ Developing quick solutions and effective
interventions to stop the problem of learning loss, which has become a
phenomenon that threatens the entire educational process.
The Arab Campaign for Education for All
(ACEA) and based on its commitment to education issues, and its belief in the
centrality of the role of civil society organizations in supporting education
and development. We call on all Arab coalitions
for education and partner civil society
organizations to actively and broadly participate in the revival of the Global
Action Week for Education by organizing and launching specific activities and
initiatives at the national and regional level. And in coordination with the
various stakeholders in the educational affairs, especially the local and Arab
media, the private sector, academics, and other relevant parties.
The Arab Campaign for Education for All
believes that the slogan (Education in Danger) truly expresses the reality of
education in the world and the Arab region, especially in these exceptional
circumstances in which the world is going through the worst global pandemic that
has been able to affect more than one billion and six hundred million learners
around the world and more than one hundred million Arabic learner , so we call
to raise our voice loudly and invest this occasion to communicate our demands
for a more Fair, equal and inclusive education.
Edited on April 20, 2021
Arab Campaign for Education for All -
(ACEA)