Why education funding is more important than ever
To commemorate Islamic Development Bank's 50th anniversary, we celebrate the partnerships that have enabled us to redouble our efforts to empower people, build lives, and contribute meaningfully to our communities.
Launched in 2021, Smarter Financing for Education is a partnership that has generated $500 million to help millions of children access quality education, which is critical to prosperity, peace, and security. This is one of the.
Through SmartEd, we mobilized $400 million in loan funds from the Arab Coordination Group, a group of IsDB and the Arab Development Fund, to provide $500 million in education funding to 37 member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Mobilized $ GPE Multiplier grant resources. 28 million children there are out of school. This funding comes at a critical time, as low-income countries face debt, socio-economic crisis and the lingering effects of COVID-19, reducing education budgets.
Since 2020, education budgets have fallen by an average of 14% in almost half of low-income countries. Educational aid from abroad is also decreasing. Official development assistance for education fell to less than 10 percent of total aid in the first year of the pandemic, from nearly 12 percent a decade ago, according to recent data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The GPE Multiplier Grant is an incentivized funding model where every dollar mobilized from GPE leverages his $3 from other donors to increase education funding and support education transformation in low-income countries. As an added incentive, the SmartEd funding model utilizes $4 in cofinancing from his ACG institutions for every $1 in GPE multiplier grants.
GPE exceeded its 2025 multiplier grant financing goal of $3.5 billion two years earlier than expected, helping 44 low- and middle-income countries increase access to quality education. The $500 million allocated to SmartEd for 2023-2025 is quickly being depleted, following allocations of $350 million to Cameroon, the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan, as demand exceeded expectations. He has only $150 million left to support the 37 OIC member states for the program's final year, highlighting the urgent need for additional funding.
To build on SmartEd's success and maintain its momentum, it is essential that we take this landmark occasion of IsDB's Golden Jubilee to strengthen our collective commitment to quality education. This imperative takes on urgency because an astonishing 250 million children around the world are out of school, most of them in low-income countries.
The quality of education is also negatively affected. An estimated 70% of people graduating from elementary school cannot do basic math or read and understand simple stories. The World Bank's 2020 Human Capital Index predicts that nearly 60 percent of children born today will be only half as productive as they would be if they had a full education and perfect health.
Compounded by limited resources, the education systems of many OIC member states are unable to accommodate the amount of learning needed to adequately compete in the dynamic 21st century global labor market. Much less learning is taking place. The growing number of these countries in need of support is encouraging, and SmartEd brings hope for education reform to resolve the lingering education crisis and move towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. is recognized as accelerating progress.
It is no coincidence that in Saudi Arabia we are celebrating the success of SmartEd. Saudi Arabia is a country that has made great strides in equipping children with the skills they need to achieve Vision 2030, which is to create a prosperous economy where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.
Saudi Arabia can provide the OIC's low-income member states not only with critical resources to finance quality education, but also with the know-how to build the human capital that will power tomorrow's economies. Notably, Saudi Arabia joined the GPE with $38 million to support education transformation in low-income countries for 21st century human capital development.
GPE takes this auspicious occasion to reaffirm its strong commitment to SmartEd and formally announce the allocation of an additional $50 million multiplier grant to this unique partnership initiative. We also reiterate our ACG institutional partners' commitment and their respective additional co-financings to SmartEd to mobilize their $200 million in matching amounts needed for GPE's additional $50 million multiplier grant. I'm sure it will be announced.
Funding quality education is not an option. It is a necessity and a shared responsibility in our partnership. Together, we will continue to innovate education financing so that every boy and girl has access to the quality education they need to learn, thrive, and face the challenges of a rapidly changing world. Masu.
• Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser is the Chairman of the IsDB Group.
• Laura Frigenti is CEO of Global Partnership for Education.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Arab News.
