£400 million of aid to India for education and standards fall.

Continuing on the theme of overseas aid from my last post....

The statistical literacy facts are absolutely dire for the UK. In a report dated March 2010 it states "One in six people in the UK struggle with literacy. This means their literacy is below the level expected of an eleven year old." and that's adults!!!

In December 2010, the schools league tables show how our primary schools are constantly failing to meet maths and literacy targets. "Almost 1,000 primary schools in England could be closed or taken over for failing to reach new government standards in maths and English and not making enough progress in either subject". Source

Even though we still have 16 year olds leaving school unable to read and write or do simple maths,  "Saint David" is insisting that foreign aid to help poor countries is a responsibility we cannot shirk. "Britain has pumped £388million into the Indian education system over the past eight years, and is due to spend another £117million by 2013". Source

There have been many people from the African continent that have said the aid is more damaging to their countries and that offering REAL fair trade opportunities would help them in a much more sustainable way. The most notable of which, is of course Dambisa Moyo.

£400 million of that money was sent to India to educate the children in more remote and poverty stricken villages. The official report that was released earlier this year states that the educational standards have remained either static or dropped, but not improved.

One of the organisations involved is Pratham which describes itself as "Pratham is the largest non governmental organisation working to provide quality education to the underprivileged children of India".

There are questions that need to be answered by the Indian Government as to why this money does not seem to be making a difference. Where has the money gone? Do these charities produce accounts?

The British Governments attitude to aid is farcical to say the least, it is epitomised in this ridiculous statement by Alan Duncan, the International Development Minister. He said "Britain should keep giving aid because it makes the country look good". Stupid and pathetic just doesn't cover it for me! Cameron's pathetic attempt at gaining almost Saintly recognition is just as pathetic. Why is he so concerned for the welfare of other's when his own country is on the brink of bankruptcy?

The DM ends by saying "DfID has already faced criticism of its funding for India’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme to provide free education to those aged six to 14. Investigations exposed corruption within the scheme, with up to £70million going astray".

It's time overseas aid is stopped. If it's not getting to the people that it's meant for, it's money we could have saved. We are not helping anybody and more importantly, we can't afford it. We are in debt up to our eyeballs and it's getting worse by the day.