The United Kingdom should “significantly” increase spending on global education, including through multilateral funds such as the Global Partnership for Education, a new report by parliament’s International Development Committee has recommended.

But IDC also called for careful assessment and more research before committing additional funding to private school operators, particularly Bridge International Academies — although the report’s recommendations on Bridge represented a softening of tone toward the group, some experts said.

Despite considerable progress made in recent years, an estimated 260 million children and young people are still not enrolled in school. This is exacerbated by conflict and natural disasters, increasing the number of displaced children. According to the recent World Bank education report, a further 330 million may be in school but are learning little.

Despite this increased need, current levels of funding for global education are not keeping pace. The United Nations estimates that there is a $39 billion gap in levels of education spending needed per year to reach the Sustainable Development Goals’ education targets.

It’s overwhelmingly positive to see the committee endorse the GPE as an effective mechanism for investing in education for sustainable development … We very much hope the secretary of state will listen to the message and deliver on the requested pledge,”  Lloyd Russell-Moyle said.

Read the full article by Sophie Edwards about education funding from Devex International Development