Commonwealth Students' Association

Only 5 in every 100 of Malawi's poorest rural girls attend secondary school, and barely one completes it. Poverty should not determine how far a girl can go in life. Every girl deserves the opportunity to learn, grow and fulfil her potential. The cost of inaction is too high.

Uganda’s education budget share fell from 10.5% in 2016/17 to 8.2% in 2025/26. When education takes a smaller share of public spending, schools and students feel the consequences. More spending on paper does not always mean more support where it matters. What should change?

In Turkana County, girls' secondary net enrolment is below 15%, against a national average of 60%. National gains can hide regional collapse. Arid counties need financing built for them. #CostOfInaction #CSA2026

Ghana faces a shortage of roughly 30,000 teachers. The double track Senior High School system, meant to ease overcrowding, limits learning contact hours. Free school only works when there is someone to teach. 
#CostOfInaction #CSA2026

Education’s share of Nigeria’s federal budget fell from 10.75% in 2015 to about 7.3% in 2025, less than half the UNESCO minimum of 15%. At this pace it reaches the 2030 deadline near 6%. #CostOfInaction #CSA2026

Canada spends about 5.4% of GDP on education, above the UNESCO floor. Yet First Nations, Metis and Inuit students still face attainment gaps and inadequate on reserve funding despite repeated federal commitments. 
#CostOfInaction #CSA2026

Australia spends about 5.1% of GDP on education, above the UNESCO minimum. Yet the Indigenous and non Indigenous attainment gap is 31 percentage points. Money alone is not closing it. 
#CostOfInaction #CSA2026

UK education spending peaked near 5.6% of GDP in 2010 and settled at about 4.1% by 2024 to 25, still around 10% below its 2010 level in real terms. Wealthy countries can quietly disinvest too. 
#CostOfInaction #CSA2026

Rising seas are an existential threat to the school systems of Kiribati and Tuvalu. The report says adaptive capacity is very low. Planning climate resilient education now is part of planning for national survival. 
#CostOfInaction #CSA2026

Papua New Guinea has made school free from early childhood to secondary, yet the World Bank says 70% of Grade 5 students cannot read at grade level. Free fees open the door. Teachers and books decide what comes next. #CostOfInaction #CSA2026

Trinidad and Tobago is a high income country, yet spends only 2.88% of GDP on education (2022), below the UNESCO floor. It ranked 53rd of 79 in PISA 2015 reading. Oil income cannot replace well targeted spending. #CostOfInaction #CSA2026

COVID school closures cost Jamaica an estimated US$5.5 billion in lifetime earnings, about a third of its annual GDP. Time out of school has a price, and children pay it for decades. #CostOfInaction #CSA2026

Only 36% of Caribbean students passed CSEC mathematics in 2024. Students sit through 12 years of school, yet many leave without the skills to join a modern economy. The World Bank calls it a comprehension crisis. 
#CostOfInaction #CSA2026

Vanuatu spends 10.1% of GDP on education and Solomon Islands 8.3%, among the highest ratios anywhere. But that reflects the cost of reaching scattered islands, not comfort. Resources per learner stay modest. #CostOfInaction #CSA2026

Our Asia Regional Representative, Palakh Khanna, represented CSA at UNESCO Regional MIL Week 2026 in New Delhi, engaging on misinformation, digital resilience, and wellbeing. CSA continues to amplify student voices in global conversations on digital citizenship. 🌏✨

Papua New Guinea’s education spending hit a historic low of 0.74% of GDP in 2019. It is budgeted at about 3.4% for 2026, still below the UNESCO floor. The World Bank says 70% of Grade 5 students cannot read at grade level. #CostOfInaction #CSA2026

Kiribati spends 14.2% of GDP on education, the highest ratio in the Commonwealth. But that reflects the high fixed cost of reaching scattered atolls, not abundance. Resources per child remain limited. #CostOfInaction #CSA2026