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'Spend on education, not guns'
14/12/2006 13:27 - (SA)
Cape Town - Governments should be spending more money on education and less on guns, Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane told Commonwealth education ministers on Thursday.
Speaking at a breakfast in Cape Town, he said he heartily endorsed a call earlier in the week by Graca Machel for money to be diverted from defence budgets to education.
"The size of the arms trade is nothing short of evil. The world now spends over a trillion dollars annually," he said.
"A mere fraction of this sum would more than cover the cost of all the Millennium Development Goals. Education is just a small part."
One of the millennium goals is universal primary education by 2015.
Ndungane, who heads the Anglican church in Southern Africa, also called for better pay for teachers.
"The teaching profession must be allowed to regain a sense of dignity and once more have the respect of the whole of society," he said.
The ministers are attending the Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers which ends on Thursday.
- SAPA
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