Global education crisis: We need new ways to close the funding gap

Simon Sommer is co-CEO of the Jacobs Foundation; Laura Frigenti, is CEO of the Global Partnership for Education; and Kwame Akyeampong is professor of international education and development and Senior Fellow at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development.

Education systems around the world are in crisis. Globally, some 251 million children and young people remain out of school, and an estimated 40% of primary school-age children lack basic reading and numeracy skills.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, the number of children without basic skills is even higher, rising to one out of two children in Ghana.

The question is how to address this. Public funding is the most significant and sustainable way to fund education. Yet, in many low- to lower-middle income countries, particularly across Africa, resources are increasingly strained.

 National debt servicing often outpaces the level of funding education receives, despite the growing learning needs of children in these countries.

According to UNESCO, the global education financing gap is nearing $100 billion annually; to even begin to close this, we need a wholesale system reboot.

With international aid suffering from unprecedented cuts, this call is more urgent than ever.

Public, private, philanthropic, and multilateral organisations must find new ways of collaborating to provide an alternative: one that pools our resources and experience to put the world back on track for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 for quality education for all (SDG 4).

Partnerships in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire 

In West Africa, this kind of collaboration is already taking shape. System Change Architecture for Learning Excellence (SCALE) is a new initiative that is bringing together multilateral, private, and philanthropic partners to help Ghana deliver on its education goals.

SCALE is a key component of an additional financing package for the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP), a five-year initiative by the Ghanaian Ministry of Education that aims to improve the quality of education across the country.

GALOP has already shown early signs of success, with more than 72,000 teachers benefiting from its training provision so far.

To build on this momentum, three philanthropic foundations and 10 cocoa and chocolate companies have joined forces to raise $40 million in funding.

The consortium’s investment unlocked an additional $40 million grant from the Global Partnership for Education’s Multiplier Fund—the largest such match to date involving both private sector and philanthropic partners. 

Combined with other contributions, total new funding for GALOP now exceeds $118.8 million.

With the new funding, GALOP's coverage will expand from 10,000 to more than 15,000 schools, provide training to 64,000 teachers, and improve the learning of 2 million children, with the aim of 60% of Primary 2 learners achieving basic literacy proficiency.

SCALE is noteworthy not only for its funding volume but also for successfully aligning public, private, philanthropic, and multilateral institutions around a common goal. This kind of collaboration has the potential to drive better learning outcomes by leveraging each actor’s unique strengths, and more partnerships like it are beginning to take shape.

A similar model can be seen in Côte d'Ivoire, where the Child Learning and Education Facility (CLEF) — a coalition between cocoa industry companies, philanthropic partners, and the national government — is working to improve the lives of over 4 million children nationwide.

With recognition from the World Bank as a best practice example of this kind of pioneering model, CLEF was a key inspiration for SCALE. 

What both projects make clear is that increased financing alone is not enough. If we are going to make meaningful progress toward quality education for all, funding must be deployed strategically toward projects and initiatives that are proven to improve children's learning.

Learning from the Côte d'Ivoire project and informed by consultations with Ghanaian communities, SCALE's architects have identified that the most effective models are those that drive coordinated interventions in an education system at multiple levels, rooted in robust evidence and driven by communities' needs.

To support this, SCALE is also integrating evidence-based policymaking through the Ghana Education Evidence and Data Lab (GEEDLab).

Housed within the Ministry of Education, GEEDLab will synthesise global and local best practices to become a knowledge source, guiding policymakers and embedding a culture of evidence in decision-making.

Quality education isn’t simply about better test scores; it is also central to the fight against child exploitation. In Ghana, there's evidence to suggest that child labour rates are 8% lower in communities with a primary school.

Changing the way education interventions are designed and funded is complex, yet we believe that SCALE and CLEF offer a clear, replicable model for others looking to move the needle on SDG 4.

These partnerships do not replace the need for public funding but bolster strained education budgets, ensuring funding is channelled towards interventions that respond to children’s socio-emotional needs and support national education systems to achieve their long-term goals.

At a time of unprecedented cuts to aid and deepening learning crises, the world doesn’t just need more funding; it needs smarter partnerships.