Oprah and Gordon 'could do much more for girls'

ActionAid UK

ACTIONAID
Oprah Winfrey could be doing so much more to improve girls' education said ActionAid after the TV star opened a school for poor girls in South Africa this week.

Winfrey used $40 million of her own money to launch the school while the following day Gordon Brown re-iterated his promise of $15 billion aid, promising to make universal primary education a key foreign policy goal.

"Both these interventions should be welcomed for the attention they bring to education, especially to the education of girls, but Oprah and Gordon could be doing so much more", said David Archer, Head of Education at ActionAid.

"Only 150 hand-picked girls from poor households will enroll in Oprah's boarding school. This number may rise to 400 and there's no doubt they'll receive an excellent education and some will emerge as future leaders. But there are over 40 million girls who have never been inside a classroom," said Archer.

"Oprah's $40 million could have benefited many more girls by challenging discrimination and violence and by improving the quality and accountability of existing schools. Creating a new elite will be less effective than improving the system for all girls," he added.

Gordon Brown's ambitious education plans for 22 African countries are on the right track but overlook one crucial issue, said Archer. Over half of the countries he wants to support face public sector wage bill caps imposed by the International Monetary Fund.

"One of the main effects of these caps is to limit the number of teachers that governments can employ. Unless these caps are removed, more aid for education will not translate into more teachers. As an influential voice at the IMF, the Chancellor could do more to remove this contradiction. It is time to cancel the caps," he added.

"International aid plays a role but domestic political will and sustained government spending on education, free from international constraints, is what will make a difference in the long term."

This is where the Global Campaign for Education and national campaigns on education play a key role. In the past five years education campaigns have emerged in over 100 countries, linking non-governmental organisations, teacher unions, parents groups, child-labour activists and diverse social movements. They work to get education higher up the domestic political agenda across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

ENDS

Helping over 14 million people a year, ActionAid works in some 47 countries in the fight against poverty.