European Commission and E.U. Member States have pledged € 313 million to provide education to crisis affected children
The European Commission and European Union (E.U.) Member States, as Team Europe, have pledged to invest € 313 million in United Nations (U.N.) global fund – Education Cannot Wait, to help the vulnerable and crisis-affected children with immediate and longer-term education support.
The funding for ‘Education Cannot Wait’ complements other E.U. support to promote quality education for children and young people in emergencies and protracted crises and to increase resilience of education systems in partner countries.
This is the biggest contribution to the Fund. The funding will be done from the E.U. budget. With this, the E.U. education investments in fragile countries will reach €3.2 billion for the period 2021–2027.
Speaking on the occasion, the Commissioner for International Partnerships – Jutta Urpilainen said, “I am very proud that Team Europe is the leading contributor to ‘Education Cannot Wait’. The COVID19 pandemic caused an education crisis in many parts of the world, but children that are suffering a crisis have been most affected. The EU, as an Education Champion, is committed to invest more and better in education, including in emergencies and crises, in line with the commitments taken at the Transforming Education Summit. Education Cannot Wait is a key partner in reaching the world’s 222 million crisis-hit children. I am pleased to confirm that, given the urgency, the €25 million pledge of the European Commission will be made available as of this year.”
Both the E.U. and ‘Education Cannot Wait’ promote access to high-quality education for the children most left behind and seek to make education investments more effective and sustainable by bridging the gap between humanitarian and development interventions, in line with the commitments of the Transforming Education Summit.
Active in 31 countries, ‘Education Cannot Wait’ has already supported 6.9 million children and young people. Germany is the single largest contributor to ‘Education Cannot Wait’, with € 210 million for the period 2023–2026. Other Member States contributing to the overall Team Europe pledge are Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Spain and Italy. The European Commission has funded ‘Education Cannot Wait’ with € 27.5 million since its launch and will now make available an additional € 25 million for 2023–2027.
Even before the COVID-19, there was a global learning crisis. It is estimated that 617 million children between the ages of 6-14 are unable to achieve minimum proficiency levels in reading, and adolescents are failing to develop the skills needed for the 21st century.
The COVID-19 caused unprecedented disruption to learning, with school closures affecting over 1.5 billion students across 190 countries. The crisis also deepened existing inequalities in education, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable and marginalized children.
The E.U. remains firmly committed to accelerating progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on quality education. The E.U. institutions and Member States together contribute more than half of all global aid to education, supporting the education sector in more than 100 countries around the world.
