A new public-private initiative was also launched at the conference to help developing countries improve their capacity to gather data and improve education systems. 

The pledges made at the conference compare to $1.2bn contributed over the past three years.

More than 50 developing countries announced they would increase public expenditure for education during the 2018-20 period to a total of $110bn, compared to $80bn between 2015 and 2017.

The Global Partnership for Education has called on developing countries to increase their share of education spending to 20% of their overall budget.

“After today’s commitments, we are seeing a clear trend to seriously address the global learning crisis,” said Julia Gillard, board chair of the Global Partnership for Education and former prime minister of Australia.

“The success of the conference marks a turning point for global political support for education financing and brings a new breadth and depth to our partnership,” she added.

The United Arab Emirates joined the partnership at the conference, becoming the first Arab donor, pledging $100m.

Senegal, whose president hosted the conference with his French counterpart, also said it would increase its own expenditure on education, while the Netherlands and Spain renewed their involvement with the partnership.

However, British MPs called the UK’s pledge of £225m to global education disappointing and short of recommendations from the select committee.

The Global Partnership for Education brings together a range of stakeholders including donors, civil society, teacher organisations and the private sector to strengthen education systems in developing countries.