UNESCO urges wider use of debt-for-education swaps
UNESCO says the swaps could redirect debt savings into schools as 113 countries spend more on debt service than on education, the agency said.
- On Friday, UNESCO launched new debt-for-education swap guidance at the Transforming Education Summit in Paris, aiming to help heavily indebted countries redirect scarce resources toward schools, teacher training and student support.
- UNESCO data reveals 113 countries, home to 6.1 billion people, currently spend more on debt servicing than on education, highlighting a severe fiscal imbalance threatening essential services.
- Low- and lower-middle-income nations face a $97 billion annual education financing gap, while debt payments in 18 heavily indebted countries exceed their education budgets by at least fivefold.
- The World Bank has recently begun backing such arrangements, citing successful precedents including a 2023 agreement with France that helped Ivory Coast build more than 30 schools and a Spain-Peru program.
- UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany called for greater political support to scale innovative financing tools, emphasizing that education is "the most powerful investment countries can make" to meet 2030 global goals.
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UNESCO urges wider use of debt-for-education swaps
UNESCO has urged governments and international lenders to expand debt-for-education swaps to help tackle a worsening education financing crisis, warning that 113 countries now spend more on servicing debt than on educating their populations.
A recent report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) notes that most so-called developing countries last year spent more financial resources on the payment and servicing of their external debt than on the financing of their education systems.
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The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) urged international lenders to expand debt-for-education swaps, warning in a Friday report that many developing countries are spending more on debt servicing than on schooling their children.
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