Customers continue to utilise international remittance services to support the education of family and friends studying overseas; finds the cross-border digital payments service WorldRemit.
Overall, remittances remained resilient, with the World Bank revealing that $540 billion of transfers were sent last year.
According to UNESCO’s 2019 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, money transfers boosted spending on education by 35% across 18 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, including Ghana, Nigeria, India, and the Philippines.
In the run-up to millions of children returning to school following a prolonged period of disruption, a number of WorldRemit customers have reiterated their commitment to supporting their relatives financially back home.
Ronke Deborah, a UK-based executive and WorldRemit customer, said, “I use WorldRemit to send money four or five times a month on average to friends and relatives in Ghana and Nigeria. During the last six months, I’ve also sent support to family in other parts of the world including the USA and Canada.
“Due to the Covid-19-related difficulties facing my cousins, I’ve started paying the primary and secondary school fees of my nieces and nephews. I love helping, especially when it comes to education as it benefits the whole of society. I’m constantly hearing about how the pandemic has disrupted studies around the world so I’m just grateful that I’m in a position to support my loved ones.”
Findings from the World Bank, along with UN data on global school enrolments, highlighted how remittances will continue to play an key role in education across emerging markets. In Ghana, which saw the most significant increases in remittances received between 2010 and 2019 (2,884%), enrolments in tertiary education rose by 92.54% for girls and 70.37% for boys between 2010 and 2015. Primary and secondary education in Ghana also showed positive signs of growth, with increases of 45% for girls and 35% for boys in secondary, and an overall increase of close to 10% at primary level.
“As a company, we recognise the transformative impact of education on young people’s lives, and understand why funding education is one of the main reasons that migrants send money back home,” comments Danielle Treharne, Director EMEA (Send) at WorldRemit. “We continue to focus on providing fast, convenient, secure and affordable money transfer services so that more people across the globe can continue to support the education of those dearest to them.”
