The Jesuit network in the Global Action Week for Education

The Global Action Week for Education (GAWE) is an activity that has been celebrated for twenty years, promoted by the Global Campaign for Education and driven by more than 120 countries, through which it seeks to raise awareness of the right to education, reminding Governments of their international commitments to guarantee this right. It is a mobilisation to draw the attention of the education community, media, society in general and, especially, political representatives to the need to make the right to quality education real and effective for everyone in the world.

This year, #GAWE2021 will be held from 26 to 30 April. The Global Campaign for Education is promoting the #OneBillionVoices campaign, which addresses how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the education of more than one billion people around the world, aggravating the current global education funding crisis. Here you can read their manifesto.

Individuals, groups and institutions are asked to support this movement by using the One Billion Voices Social Media Toolkit and Visuals and the GAWE campaign packs to make the buzz on social media, with the hashtag #OneBillionVoicesForEducation, and tell the world about the problems and proposals for education. There are lot of things you can do: write articles or blogs, share graphics, art and cartoons, poems, short videos and tell the world how you and or your community address the impact of COVID-19 on education and other related challenges. Share materials on [email protected]. See here everything you can do to collaborate.

We need to build a committed and active citizenry, capable of mobilising and influencing to demand that education can be a real tool for the protection of children

What is GCE calling for?

GCE is calling on national governments to:

• Increase state funding for education to 20% of public expenditure.
• Increase its tax base in order to increase resources, working towards a minimum tax-to-GDP ratio of 20%.
• Provide free quality education for all and end the trend towards the privatization and commercialization of education.

GCE calls on national governments and donors:

• Improve the quality of teaching through adequate recruitment, remuneration and continued teacher training.
• Ensure inclusive education systems through equitable financing and programmes that prioritises the most marginalised.
• Listen and respond to the voices of those affected. Space must be allowed for individuals and civil society to speak up.

GCE calls on donors:

• Enable urgent debt cancellation for least developed countries; and debt alleviation for middle and upper-middle-income countries.
• Developed countries must continue to work towards the goal of 0.7% overseas aid, with 20% of this spent on education, and increasing their contributions to the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait.

GCE will be hosting virtual events every day throughout GAWE, and can be followed through their social media. 

In addition, this year the Conference of Jesuit Provincials of Latin America and the Caribbean (CPAL) is also present at GAWE, reaffirming the commitment to the right to universal education of its 15 apostolic networks and 12 member provinces.

In March 2019, CPAL published the book The Society of Jesus and the Universal Right to a Quality Education (DUEC) and, at the end of 2020, took up the Global Compact on Education, an initiative of Pope Francis in line with the objectives of the DUEC, and asked Jesuits, collaborators, communities and apostolic works to join this cause.

GAWE is an opportunity to enrich our common mission and to collaborate with many others with whom we share in the service of the universal right to quality education

The Global Campaign for Education, Global Action Week for Education and CLADE support CPAL’s commitment to invest talent, resources and efforts to address educational inequity, and encourage us all to be part of this global movement.

GAWE is an opportunity to raise awareness and consciousness about educational justice, as well as to mobilise and be part of the change. All individuals, communities, groups and institutions in the Jesuit network are invited to join GAWE, not as an add-on to their agenda, but as an opportunity to enrich the common mission and to collaborate with many others with whom we share the service of the universal right to quality education.