65% low, Lower-Middle Income Countries slashed Education Budgets after COVID-19 outbreak: WB report

In accordance with the report by World Bank (WB), the low and lower-middle income countries have cut the education budgets by 65% after COVID-19 pandemic despite the urgent need for adequate funding to allow school systems to reopen safely and to fund programs to make up for the losses in learning students experienced while schools were closed.

• 33% of high and upper-middle income countries also followed the same scenario.
• The current level of government spending is also falling short for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Key Features of Report:

i.It was prepared to analyze and understand the short term impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on education budgets.

ii.It was compiled in collaboration with UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report.

How information for the report was collected?

The report has covered 29 countries across all regions which represent about 54% of the world’s school and university aged population.  The information collected was then verified with World Bank country teams.

• The sample includes three low-income countries (Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Uganda); 14 lower-middle income countries (Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Tanzania, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); 10 upper-middle income nations (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Jordan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Turkey); and two high-income countries (Chile, Panama).

Key Points:

i.The countries of Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, India, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Russia have education shares below 10%

ii.Households in low and lower-middle income countries tend to contribute a greater share of the total education spending than those in upper-middle and high-income countries

Recent Related News:

i.A financial support agreement was signed between Ministry of Education (MoE), Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), and World Bank (WB) for the implementation of Rs 5718 crore STARS project on January 29, 2021.

ii.On January 11, 2021,4th edition of One Planet Summit (OPS) 2021 was virtually organized by France, the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank from Paris (France) to prepare negotiations for setting global biodiversity targets in order to protect nature in the next decade.The theme of the summit is “Let’s act together for nature!”.

About World Bank:

Establishment– 1944
President– David Robert Malpass
Headquarters– Washington, D.C., United States
Members– 189 (including India)

Subsidiaries– International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)