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The global classroom

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The resignation of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz following allegations that he authorised a pay increase and promotion for his girlfriend has kept the bank in the news for all the wrong reasons. Less well known is the bank's highly influential role in the development of school and university systems worldwide.

Ask the man in the street what the institution does and you are likely to be met with a blank expression. Ask what it does for education and the shoulders will shrug higher still. Yet the bank is the largest source of external funding for education globally, providing on average US$2 billion a year over the past five years in grants and loans.

'It is the dominant voice in aid to education,' said David Archer, a board member of the Global Campaign for Education and head of education at ActionAid International. 'It's the reference point for analysis and thinking on this subject, though I personally think it shouldn't be.'

The World Bank was created in 1945 as part of a grand Allied strategy of conflict prevention after the second world war. The aim was to promote growth and stability globally, including in the defeated countries, and encourage even former enemies to become partners in preserving the new world order.

Today its work is focused largely on fighting poverty, including via education, to which it will dedicate US$2.4 billion this year, with a near doubling of support for Africa. The bank is also the catalyst behind what experts call one of the best kept secrets in development - a global mechanism, called the Fast Track Initiative - for helping achieve the worldwide goal of giving every child a place in primary school, one of the Millennium Development Goals.

'Expanding access to education is one of the success stories in development,' said Manfred Konukiewitz, deputy director-general of the German ministry for economic development and co-operation, which hosted a meeting of fast track donors in Bonn last month.

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