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Poorest learners benefit least from public education funding: UNICEF

News: Only 16 per cent of public education funding goes to the poorest 20 per cent of learners, while 28 per cent goes to the richest 20 per cent, the UNICEF said in a report.

• In a report exposing worldwide educational disparity, UNICEF stated that just 16% of public education financing goes to the poorest 20% of students while 28% goes to the richest 20%.
• The report, “Transforming Education with Equitable Financing,” which examines government spending from pre-primary through higher school in 102 countries, also notes that children from the poorest households gain the least from national public education funding.
• “Kids are being failed by us. The majority of educational systems around the globe underfund those students who most need it, “said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF.
• According to UNICEF, the disparity is most severe in low-income countries where students from the richest households receive more than six times as much public education spending as those from the poorest households.
• The richest students in middle-income nations like Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal receive about four times as much money for public education as the poorest students, according to Xinhua news agency.
• In high-income nations, the wealthy typically receive 1.1 to 1.6 times as much public education funding as the poorest citizens, with France and Uruguay benefiting from the highest disparity.
• To tackle “learning poverty,” UNICEF asked for equitable finance.