Wednesday, September 21, 2005

The Sept. 16 KidsPost notice about Kimani Nganga going to elementary school at 85, after the Kenyan government finally made education free for all its citizens, was inspiring. Unfortunately, children in 92 countries still must pay to go to school, and most may not be able to afford school until they reach a similarly octogenarian age.

In most of these countries, governments pass on costs to parents because they cannot increase their own spending on education. The strict conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund often are the biggest constraint. To keep the IMF happy, for example, nations are often forced to keep their inflation levels almost impossibly low, even if this means leaving children without a school or teacher.

Five years ago, at the U.N. Millennium Summit, 100 million children were promised an education by 2015. The contradictions between the international development goals and IMF conditions should be addressed now.

DAVID ARCHER

Head of Education

ActionAid International

London