Ibero-American Education Conference

Last week, ministers of education in the region gathered in Buenos Aires at the XX Ibero-American Education Congress. The conference, organized by the OEI, focused on the details of advancing the eleven-point “Metas 2021.” The most significant outcome of the conference was the group’s commitment to invest some US $100 billion in education across the region over the next ten years, which would effectively raise the regional percentage of GDP spent on education from 5.1% to 5.5%. Of these new funds to be invested, participants agreed that early learning would be a primary focus area.

Assuring this incremental investment will no doubt be a major challenge given the state of the current global economic environment. The ministers also discussed tracking progress through monitoring and evaluating country goals and compiling an annual report on progress, though no regional plan for doing so has been announced yet. The presidents of the 23 countries represented at the meeting plan to gather in December and ratify the final agreement.