Theresa May recently made a promise that sharply divided opinion among her supporters and her MPs, by promising to continue the target of the UK spending 0.7 per cent of its GDP on international development.

She was right to do so. The 0.7 per cent target has become a signal for wider discussions around the direction and priorities of successive governments. And in purely practical terms, the actual cash sums devoted to it are hugely overestimated.

The much more important discussion is what that aid budget is spent on. And here, a recent Commons International Development Select Committee report bears interesting reading. The committee points out that spending by the department on education issues lags behind other areas such as health. Furthermore, education spending as a proportion of aid has declined since 2011 and is now just 1.8 per cent of total spending.

This is really unfortunate. Education spending in the developing world can be hugely powerful. A programme that the Varkey Foundation (where I work) runs in Ghana - sponsored by DfID - beams lessons via satellite from a studio in Accra to 144 classrooms in rural schools. The teachers and the local facilitators have all been trained in National Strategies-style teaching practices. The gains in maths and reading have been impressive.

Time to start fighting

There are also a substantial number of other benefits. Educating girls in the developing world is the single biggest factor that controls human population growth. Education can also lead to a growth in physical security and a reduction in those susceptible to radicalisation. And the “soft power” element of education is well known - witness the efforts made by the Fulbright scheme and Chevening scholarships to have future leaders educated in the UK.

These type of conversations often make people in domestic policy and the development world uncomfortable. Development aid is either thought to be a good in and of itself or, if pressed, people will simply say that countries should spend more on all its priorities.

But the fact is that education is falling down the list of priorities. It receives less business charitable giving than health. It receives less aid spending, And in the UK, despite a protection being placed around a carefully defined and specific area of spending, it has fallen considerably as a proportion of GDP over the last few years as well.

If the education community wants to see its efforts rewarded, then it needs to start fighting. It needs to have education spending by governments, business, civil society, charities and aid organisations in its sights.

There are over half a billion children worldwide either not in school, or in school and not learning. There are huge benefits to be gained by addressing this. The solutions are there. It just needs everyone to put their money where their mouth is.

Jonathan Simons is director of policy and advocacy at the Varkey Foundation. He tweets @jonathansimons