SHARE: International public spending benchmarks must be met

ActionAid’s 4S framework identifies four clear principles that must be applied to ensure that countries meet the SDG4 twin promises of quality and inclusion:

1. A fair SHARE of the budget is spent on education - meeting or exceeding UNESCO benchmarks of 20% of national budget or 6% of GDP - with a particular focus on marginalised groups, including children with disabilities. 2. A good SIZE of overall budget is raised through a progressive tax base, maximising the availability of national resources for investment in public services, ensuring that those most able to pay (the wealthiest) support those least able (the poorest) to do so. This also requires macroeconomic policies which can support budget increases, such as reducing debt servicing or limiting austerity policies. 3. Budgets are SENSITIVE, with a focus on equity in public expenditure in order to redress broader inequalities in society (such as stipends for the education of children with disabilities, or greater investment in inclusive teachers in poor rural areas). 4. Public SCRUTINY of budget expenditure to ensure that funds arrive on time (especially in disadvantaged areas) and are spent effectively. This may require, for instance, enabling civil society groups to have oversight of budget development and expenditure.

The UNESCO Education 2030 Framework for Action33 establishes a target for countries to allocate up to 20% of their national budget or 6% of GDP to meet SGD4 by 2030. Countries with the furthest to go to meet SDG4 targets and indicators will need to meet or exceed the higher targets for budget allocations to the sector. High levels of investment are needed to provide more trained and well paid teachers to deal with increased pupil demand,34 whilst meeting commitments to quality, equity and inclusion.35 Yet many countries are presently falling short of these targets, as public education expenditure is, on average, 4.4% of GDP and 13.8% of total public expenditure.ix

When an insufficient share of the budget is allocated to education, governments tend to look for ways to cut back on spending on teachers, and the financing for teachers’ wages, training and support gets squeezed. This can mean that not enough teachers are employed, or that funding for mechanisms to retain teachers and incentivise appropriate deployment, class sizes, and so on is insufficient.

PHOTO: LAURETTE ABUYA/ACTIONAID

ix. The Global Education Monitoring Report 2020-21 provides data for latest available year (2017), although as the report notes, data were missing for 54% of countries.