Foreign aid for education marks sharp fall
The latest aid figures for education in Bangladesh estimated by the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, Unesco show that there has been a substantial drop in aid to education between 2013 and 2014.
Aid to education in Bangladesh was US$ 148 million in 2002-3 which stood at US$ 528 million in 2013. The figure came down to US$ 449 million in 2014.
"It's a substantial drop," Kate Redman, communications and advocacy specialist of the GEM Report, told the news agency yesterday, sharing Bangladesh's specific data of the global report.
She said aid to basic education in Bangladesh was US$ 97 million in 2002-3, which stood at US$ 311 million in 2013. The figure came down to US$ 207 million in 2014 showing a substantial drop in two years.
Bangladesh is the fourth highest receiver at this level after India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the official said.
Meanwhile, aid to basic education per child in Bangladesh was US$ 6 in 2002-3, which increased to US$ 19 in 2013. The figure came down to US$ 13 in 2014, Kate Redman said quoting the latest data.
This is low compared to Afghanistan that received US$ 50 per child in 2014, while US$25 by Sri Lanka.
The latest aid figures for education globally show that levels went down by almost US$ 600 million, or 4 percent, between 2013 and 2014.
The share of total aid being allocated to education also fell from 9.5 percent to 8.2 percent, indicating that the sector is falling further down the list of priorities for donors.
Such drop in aid will make education progress extremely difficult, if not impossible, for many countries still reliant on financial support from donors. And early indications of aid flows for 2015 do not leave much room for optimism, said Aaron Benavot, director of GEM Report. Between 2013 and 2014, four donors, France, Japan, the Netherlands, and Spain, reduced aid to basic education by 40 percent or more. The United Kingdom reduced aid to basic education by 21 percent and is no longer the largest bilateral donor. Benavot said, "Governments around the world have just signed up to an enormously ambitious and promising vision for education and lifelong learning over the next fifteen years, an agenda they know is crucial if even greater ambitions for sustainable development are to be realised by 2030."
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