Norway gets top marks for development assistance for education

Norway and the Netherlands are the two countries that provide the best development assistance for education, according to a report published by the world-wide lobbying network Global Campaign for Education. It is made up of teachers’ unions and organisations such as Save the Children, Care and Unicef.

The objective of the report is to direct attention to the support for education that is in fact promised by many countries, and to increase the pressure to fulfil the UN Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education by 2015. 

Of the 22 countries that were included in the evaluation, only Norway and the Netherlands were given the best mark – A, and are thus top of the class. Norway was awarded an A for three of the five parameters on which the evaluation was based. 

“Norway promises to fulfil the pledges it has made regarding education, as this report shows,” said International Development Minister Erik Solheim. “We will continue to be a strong partner in global initiatives to reach the target of primary education for all by 2015. Norway will seek in particular to ensure schooling for the most vulnerable children, such as child workers, children in conflict situations, children who have lost their parents to Hiv/Aids and disabled children.”

The report also shows that most of the countries evaluated are not keeping their promises on education. 

“We are the first generation that has ever had the possibility of achieving the target of education for all. The critical factor is political will. It is vital that all countries – particularly the G8 countries – live up to their commitments on education,” Mr Solheim continued.  

This was the message Mr Solheim delivered at a high-level meeting in Brussels earlier this week on the Millennium Development goal on primary education for all. The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, were also present. 

For more information about this meeting. 

The report is based on reports from the countries in question to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), and is published on an annual basis by the Global Campaign for Education network. 

• Read the report. 

Press contact: Mette Andersen, tel.: +47 480 62 113