Write a legal minimum for school spending into every national debt plan

Why this matters

UNESCO, the UN education agency, has looked at the years since 2017. Each extra dollar paid on debt came with about 28 cents less for education, after inflation. Debt payments are 12.2 times education spending in Angola and 8.4 times in Sierra Leone. Across the region, 62% of these payments go to lenders at home, so governments can act without waiting for foreign creditors.

Sierra Leone shows the squeeze. Its 2026 education budget rose 9.4% in cash terms and fell about 1% after inflation. When debt payments are counted in total spending, education takes 13.5% of the budget and about 2.2% of national income. Debt payments of 8.6 billion leones are more than double the education budget of 4.0 billion leones.

The targets already exist. The global Education 2030 Framework asks governments to spend 4% to 6% of national income, or 15% to 20% of public spending, on education. Governments in sub-Saharan Africa average 3.5% and 15.5%. In December 2024 African education ministers signed the Nouakchott Declaration, which sets 4% to 7% of national income and 15% to 25% of the budget. It asks the AU Commission to report on progress every two years.

Outside lenders give little protection. Of 39 programmes agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 2020 and 2023, 33 had a minimum for social spending. Almost all of these were targets with no penalty if missed. A floor set in national law is harder to set aside.

Four levels of action

1. 1

   What Africa asks of the world

   The IMF should treat a national minimum for education spending, once written into law, as protected spending when it designs a programme. It should measure that minimum after inflation.

   Who

   IMF management and its country teams

   When

   Spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, 12 to 17 April 2027

2. 2

   What the African Union does

   The AU Commission's education department publishes the report promised at Nouakchott every two years. It includes a table of education spending against debt payments for every member state. The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), through which African governments review each other, adds a check on education funding to its country reviews.

   Who

   The AU Commission's education department, with the APRM

   When

   First table before the AU summit in February 2027

3. 3

   What regional groups do

   Finance officials in ECOWAS, the East African Community and SADC agree one definition of spending per pupil after inflation, including whether debt payments count. National minimums can then be compared. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are suspended from AU bodies and have left ECOWAS. The continental table still includes them, using UNESCO data where it exists.

   Who

   Finance officials of ECOWAS, the East African Community and SADC

   When

   By June 2027

4. 4

   Which country goes first, and why

   Sierra Leone goes first. Its 2026 education budget brief, prepared with UNICEF, already sets education against debt payments and the international targets. It also recommends protecting education from cuts during the year. Sierra Leone only needs to turn that measure into a legal minimum.

   Who

   Sierra Leone's Ministry of Finance and its Parliament

   When

   Minimum raised at the IMF spring meetings in April 2027 and written into the 2028 budget law

Before another country can do this

• Published data on education spending after inflation and on debt payments.
• A medium-term plan for managing debt that parliament reviews.
• No IMF programme, or a programme at a stage that allows a protected spending item.
• A parliament with power to amend the budget law.

What does not carry over from the first country

• Sierra Leone's Free Quality School Education programme, which gives schools high political priority.
• Its level. At about 2% of national income, Sierra Leone's minimum would be too low for Senegal or South Africa, which spend about 6%.

Who else is ready

Has this worked before?

Brazil's 1988 Constitution requires the federal government to spend at least 18% of tax revenue on education, and states and towns at least 25%. In 1996 a national fund called FUNDEF ring-fenced this money. The share of children aged 7 to 14 out of school fell from 9.8% in 1995 to 2.6% in 2005. The quality of learning changed little, so a floor protects places in school more than it improves teaching. Source (opens in a new tab)

ERIC: study of education funding rules in Brazil

First steps

1. African Unionthe AU Commission's education department publishes a table of education spending against debt payments, from UNESCO data, before the February 2027 summit.
2. Regional groupsfinance officials in ECOWAS, the East African Community and SADC agree a common definition of spending per pupil after inflation by June 2027.
3. Sierra Leonethe Ministry of Finance sets a minimum for spending per pupil in its debt plan, raises it at the IMF spring meetings in April 2027 and asks Parliament to write it into the 2028 budget law.

Who acts, and with what

Who leads

National finance ministries decide; the AU Commission's education department and the APRM compare results; Sierra Leone goes first

Instrument

National budget law and debt plan, the AU's two-yearly Nouakchott report and APRM reviews

How progress is checked

Spending per pupil after inflation held or raised wherever a minimum is adopted, and the continental table published before February 2027

Signal to change course

Spending per pupil after inflation falls where a minimum exists, or a debt rescheduling ignores it

What stands in the way

Finance ministries like to keep room to move money. Inflation can wear away a minimum set in cash terms.

Cost and money

A minimum adds no new spending line. It moves money within budgets and away from debt payments. The cost of meeting it differs by country and has not been estimated.

Who else contributes

What each audience can do