CASE ANALYSIS

Education urgently needs to be made a priority in cities and states across the United States as well as in conflict-affected countries. These areas currently have some of the world’s worst education indicators.  Millions of children and adolescents are being deprived of their right to an education that could transform their lives. Education can help prevent conflict. One study showed that doubling the percentage of youth with high school education from 30% to 60% has the potential to halve the risk of conflict. Another study of 55 countries between 1986 and 2003 indicated that where educational inequality doubled, the probability of conflict more than doubled from 3.8% to 9.5% (UNESCO, 2014). Education promotes tolerance as well as the global citizenship skills.[1]

WHO:   We would scour the United States offering grants, funding, expertise, and resources to empower K-12 schools to thrive rather than just survive.  We would also work with UNESCO to identify global hot spots of need and fund quality education in those conflict-afflicted areas.  Because every child deserves the right to be educated, we will work tirelessly to ensure they have the resources necessary to create a better, more promising and peaceful tomorrow. 

WHAT:  What is our goal?  To provide accessible funding and resources to K-12 educational facilitates including public, charter, private, international, and communal schools for educational advancement in the U.S. and abroad.

WHEN:  Improving primary and secondary, K-12, education can start immediately and with passionate urgency.  Remember, today is the tomorrow we were promised yesterday.  Let’s get to work to change schools at home and abroad.   Time and money are of the essence to build strong schools for the next generation before hate and violence destroy to opportunity for peace and prosperity to shine.

WHERE:   Quality education requires trained teachers in the classroom, but deploying teachers to conflict zones domestically or internationally is difficult because of the dangerous working conditions, particularly as schools and teachers are sometimes attacked (UNESCO, 2011)[1].  Education funding in conflict affected countries is neglected Conflict-affected countries are spending far below the recommended levels on education. In 2012, just 3.2% of national income was spent on education in 21 of these countries – far below the global average of 5% or the recommended target of between 4% and 6% of national income. With so many of the world’s out-of-school children and adolescents living in conflict affected areas, investing in education should be a priority for donors. But many countries in protracted crises do not receive enough humanitarian financing. And humanitarian aid appeals do not include sufficient requests for education funding.  Development aid will help make up this shortfall[2].

WHY:  Not only does the education sector have one of the lowest requests for resources in Humanitarian Response Plans, but it also receives a small share of what is requested – a double disadvantage. In 2014, the education sector’s share made up just 2.9% of total humanitarian aid requests. It was the third lowest request after ‘mine action’ and ‘safety & security of staff and operations’.  Thus, just 2% of humanitarian appeals went to education[3]. 

Education is the lowest funded item on the list at just $186 million.

In the entire United States, only about 123,000 eighth-graders—or 3 percent—scored at the advanced level in reading on the NAEP exams. Only about 120,000 eighth graders are doing excellent work in middle school English language arts in the whole country.

In some states, the issue is also dire when it comes to high-level work, and only a few hundred students have reached the advanced level in some grades. Around 410 eighth-graders in Mississippi, for instance, are reading at the advanced level; in New Mexico, there are approximately 230 eighth-graders achieving at that level. In West Virginia, only about 610 eighth-graders are considered advanced in math.

While there has been substantial progress over the past decade—particularly in cities and states that have embraced standards-based reform—the nation still faces a pressing education crisis, particularly when it comes to students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. The sooner that we take action, the better prepared the nation will be for the future.[4]

HOW:  Teachers living in conflict and fragile states often risk their lives to provide an education, with little support through training and psychosocial support. They often go without pay for months on end. Supporting teachers is crucial to prevent the collapse of the education systems in these countries and yet teacher salaries in many Humanitarian Response Plans are rarely funded (Save the Children, 2014).

Three types of pooled funding mechanisms are used to disburse humanitarian aid: The Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF), Common Humanitarian Funds (CHFs) and Emergency Response Funds (ERFs). Despite the benefits of pooled funding mechanisms, the volume and share of humanitarian aid for education flowing through CERF, CHFs and ERFs remain minimal. Of the US $4.3 billion channeled through these mechanisms between 2010 and 2014, just 3% was for the education sector in comparison to 25% for the health sector. 

While a huge funding gap remains in the provision of good quality primary education, other areas of education that are traditionally underfunded in humanitarian funding should also be addressed by the proposed emergency fund. For example, funding secondary education is a neglected area despite the evidence that improvements in secondary attainment can help reduce future conflict or criminal situations.  Similarly, the effective recruitment, training and deployment of good quality teachers – a real challenge in fragile contexts – are of vital importance. The proposed Greg T White Emergency Education Fund would need to work closely with other global and national actors active in the financing of education locally and globally.

SUMMARY:  We have been in the educational industry for over 26 years, and we have seen the increasing LACK in educational funding take a toll on the quality of life of children and their communities.  There is still time and money to turn it around.  We aspire to build a humanitarian emergency educational relief fund that will transform lives, communities, and at risk countries.  We CAN do better to educate our young people.
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[1] “Education for all global monitoring report,” UNESCO, June 2015. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002335/233557E.pdf
[2] “Education for all global monitoring report,” UNESCO, June 2015. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002335/233557E.pdf
[3] “Education for all global monitoring report,” UNESCO, June 2015. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002335/233557E.pdf
[4] Ulrich Boser, Perpetual Baffour, and Steph Vela.  “A Look at the Education Crisis.”  January 2016. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/ education/reports/2016/01/26/129547/a-look-at-the-education-crisis/