The Global South is being forced to choose creditors over children

The world claims to regard education as a universal right. Its financial system tells a different story.⁠New figures released by UNESCO show that 113 countries with a total population of 6.1 billion now spend more on servicing debt than educating their people. In low-income countries, debt payments are nearly four times education expenditure. In 18 of the most heavily indebted countries, governments spend at least five times more on debt than on education.These are not merely signs of strained public finances. They reveal a stark political hierarchy.Creditors possess enforceable claims on government revenues. Children possess declarations, development goals and promises. When the two collide, creditors are paid first.The consequences are visible in overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating school buildings, teacher shortages, unaffordable school fees and children leaving education prematurely. Yet these outcomes are generally described as funding gaps or failures of domestic governance, as though governments had freely decided to neglect their schools.In reality, many governments are operating inside an international financial order that sharply restricts what they can choose.The ⁠Worl...