In Japan for G8, Director-General cites figures prepared by EFA Global Monitoring Report team
An op-ed piece signed by UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura, uses aid figures prepared by the EFA Global Monitoring Report team for the 2009 report to remind members of the urgency of their following through on prior commitments to education.
Appearing on the eve of the G8 Summit in Toyako in the July 7 edition of the daily French newspaper Le Figaro. the Director General’s article said that other pressing issues like global warming, rising oil prices and the world food crisis should not be allowed to upstage the continuing need for aid to basic education. He said that if rich countries honoured their pledges made in 2000, there would be much greater progress towards achieving free universal primary education, addressing teacher shortages and high rates of adult illiteracy, particularly in Africa.
But even if promises are kept, he emphasized, the aid would only reach about half of what is currently required annually. It is also not targeted to those countries and populations most in need.