Hamjatta,
Thank you for your timely posting. The abysmal state
of basic education in the developing countries
warrants urgent action from the G-7,the developing
countries themselves and the type of leadership
displayed by Gordon Brown on the issue of third world
debt. What has become of Mr. Blair? It seems his gloss
is wearing off rapidly, both at home and abroad. For
whatever it's worth, I fully concur with Oxfam's
position; a blueprint for universal basic education
without funding commitments is as good as the Alma
Atta Declaration-Health For All by the Year 2000.
Remember?
sidi sanneh
--- Hamjatta Kanteh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> This is from the Guardian. Have a great reading.
>
******************************************************************************
> ******************
> Oxfam lashes Blair for lack of global leadership
>
> Education Unlimited
>
> Charlotte Denny
> Saturday March 11, 2000
>
> Tony Blair was accused yesterday of failing to take
> the lead in tackling the
> growing crisis in third world education with only
> weeks to go before a key UN
> conference aimed at getting 125m of the world's
> poorest children back into
> the classroom.
> Hopes of the British prime minister attending the
> conference at the end of
> this month in Dakar, Senegal, have faded.
>
> Yesterday Oxfam, which is leading a campaign for an
> $8bn (£5.1bn) global
> action plan to tackle the crisis, said the prime
> minister was not providing
> the level of international leadership on education
> that the chancellor,
> Gordon Brown, had shown on managing third world
> debt.
>
> "His leadership could make a real difference. He has
> so far failed to act and
> we are running out of time," said Kevin Watkins, a
> spokesperson for Oxfam.
> "Unfortunately, education seems to be the number one
> issue at home, but not
> overseas."
>
> The Dakar forum marks the 10th anniversary of the
> international pledge on
> universal primary education, which was supposed to
> have been achieved this
> year but has now been moved back to 2015.
>
> Oxfam says even the 2015 target is doubtful, and it
> has called on Mr Blair to
> put the education crisis on the agenda of July's
> meeting of the group of
> eight leading economies in Osaka.
>
> In response, a Downing Street spokesperson said: "We
> will be doing everything
> we can do to get education in the developing world
> on the agenda at Osaka,
> but the presidency rests with the Japanese and they
> have their own concerns
> and priorities."
>
> He added: "We will be playing a leading role at
> Dakar. We see education as an
> absolutely vital development issue. We are committed
> to universal primary
> education by 2015."
>
> But the latest draft plan of action for Dakar
> reveals that the international
> community has failed to increase its funding for
> third world education.
>
> The plan, which does little more than state broad
> principles for action, has
> been dismissed by Oxfam, which describes it as an
> "affront" to the millions
> of children being denied the right to an education.
>
> "This is precisely the sort of bureaucratic,
> half-baked thinking that
> threatens to turn the Dakar conference into high
> farce," said Mr Watkins. "We
> are being asked to accept a plan of action that is
> devoid of funding
> commitments and lacking in any strategy for
> achieving universal basic
> education."
>
> According to Oxfam's global action plan, western
> countries would raise
> £2.53bn in increased aid and debt relief to help
> third world schools, while
> developing countries would raise a similar amount
> through reducing military
> spending.
>
> The World Bank, the UN Development Programme and
> several EU governments -
> including Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands -
> support Oxfam's proposals.
> One proposal includes a special provision that calls
> for roughly 65% of the
> money the west generates to be diverted to education
> in sub-Saharan Africa.
>
> There are more children out of school in sub-Saharan
> Africa than there were
> in 1990. And, if trends continue, there will be 57m
> children out of school by
> 2015.
>
> Oxfam resigned from the Dakar conference's
> organising committee last month,
> blaming "grossly inadequate" political leadership.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> hkanteh
>
>
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