Donor support for education fast-track

International donors have agreed to support a fast-track education programme in seven developing countries including Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mauritania and Niger, the World Bank reported. The other countries are Guyana, Honduras and Nicaragua. Donor representatives, who met in Brussels on Wednesday, agreed to work with the seven countries to close a funding gap, currently estimated at approximately US $400 million over the next three years 2003-2005. "This agreement under the Education For All Fast Track Initiative (EFA - FTI) will begin the process of ensuring that developing countries reach the UN millennium development goal to provide every girl and boy with a complete primary school education by 2015," the bank added. According to the bank, the programme would educate 4 million girls and boys who are currently out of primary school, support those who could otherwise drop-out, finance teacher training, pay teachers’ salaries, build new schools, help education systems respond to HIV/AIDS and ensure quality primary education for all children. "The seven countries are the first to benefit from the EFA - FTI, launched in June [when] donors invited 18 developing countries that had completed full poverty reduction strategy papers and had on-going education sector programmes to participate in the FTI," the bank said. "India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, DR Congo, and Nigeria - significant for their large numbers of out-of-school children, especially girls, were invited to carry out additional policy work so they can join the FTI in the future. These 5 countries account for 50 million of the estimated worldwide total of 113 million children out of school." The FTI initiative offers donor financing for countries willing to prioritise primary education for all children and embrace policies that improve the quality and efficiency of their primary education systems. Alongside the seven countries, the other 11 countries invited to join the FTI are: Albania, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zambia.