Skip to main content
Banner image for Andrew Selous

Andrew Selous

South West Bedfordshire

Main navigation

  • Home
  • About Andrew
  • News
  • Campaigns
  • Constituency
  • Surgeries
  • In Parliament
  • Contact
  • Campaign Responses
  • Coronavirus Help

Education and Development Globally

  • Tweet

Improving education systems in developing countries is beneficial for everyone. It supports young people to get good jobs and helps them to lift themselves and their countries out of poverty, thereby building a more prosperous and more stable future for us all. Moreover, it reduces the incentive to seek a better life in another country – which directly impacts the UK.

The UK is a world leader when it comes to improving global education. We are the biggest bilateral donor to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the largest fund in the world dedicated to improving education in developing countries. The UK occupies a prominent position in the GPE, and co-hosted (with Kenya) its 2021 Replenishment Summit in July, whereupon $4 billion was raised.

The UK is giving £430 million to the GPE as part of its (2021 - 2026) replenishment. This is the UK's largest ever donation to the GPE and represents a 15 per cent increase on our previous commitment.

Girls' education is a particular priority for the PM, and one of the seven Official Development Assistance (ODA) priorities for the UK. The FCDO will also spend £400 million on girls' education in 2021/22, which will help achieve the global target to get 40 million more girls into education, and 20 million more reading in the next five years – an ambition now adopted by the G7. 

To be clear, our £430 million funding pledge to the GPE is separate to the £400m of UK aid which will be spent this year on bilateral ODA efforts to increase girls’ access to education in developing countries.

The pandemic has caused an unprecedented global education crisis, with 1.6 billion children around the world out of school during the height of school closures. Girls have been hardest hit as the pandemic compounded the obstacles to education girls already face, including poverty, gender-based violence and child marriage. I am proud that the UK put these issues at the forefront of the global policy agenda this year as part of its 2021 Presidency of the G7.

Indeed, meeting in 2021, G7 Foreign and Development Ministers endorsed a girls' education declaration, which states that the G7 will work in collaboration with developing country partners, multilateral institutions, and civil society organisations to remove the obstacles to education that stand in the way of girls.

The UK’s flagship Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC), launched 2012, is the world’s largest global programme dedicated to girls’ education. The GEC operates in some of the world's poorest nations and has supported over a million girls to receive a quality education. In Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania, for example, the GEC has helped over 315,000 girls from poor communities to learn and transition to the next phase of education, training or employment.

Helen Grant MP was appointed as the UK’s Special Envoy on Girls’ Education in January 2021, tasked with championing every girls’ right to 12 years of quality education.

As part of the agenda, I welcome the Prime Minister's announcement of 13 May of £55 million for the What Works Hub for Global Education, a programme which will drive crucial research into education reforms, turbocharging efforts to get girls into school and learning.

According to the UN, the Coronavirus pandemic has been responsible for the largest disruption to education systems in history. This, it warns, risks erasing decades of progress on education. To manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, I am informed that the FCDO has adapted many of its bilateral education programmes as well as providing additional funding, including £5 million to Education Cannot Wait. The UK has also provided £20 million to UNICEF to protect vulnerable children and £5.3 million to UNHCR to fund the salaries of over 5,500 teachers in refugee camps in 10 countries.

In July 2020, the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel was established: an independent body composed of leading education experts from around the world. Its mandate is to provide succinct, usable, and policy-focused recommendations to support policymakers’ decision-making on education investments in low- and middle-income countries. It is jointly convened by the FCDO and World Bank, and its first report was released in October.

I hope this has provided some reassurance that, when it comes to improving education around the world, the UK is leading the way. 

Campaign Responses

  • Access to Waterways
  • Adult Dependant Relative Visa
  • Adult Social Care
  • Afghanistan and Pakistan
  • Afghanistan: Nowzad
  • Afghanistan Refugees
  • Afghanistan Refugees (Christians)
  • Afghanistan Withdrawal
  • Age UK's Winter Warmth Campaign
  • Air Passenger Duty
  • Air Quality
  • Alcohol Duty
  • All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs)
  • Animal Research
  • Animal Testing - Dogs
  • Animal Welfare Legislation
  • Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill: Cats
  • Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill: Dogs
  • Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill
  • Arms Exports
  • Arms Exports: Israel
  • Arthritis
  • ASRU Change Programme
  • Assisted Suicide
  • Asylum Support and Employment
  • Aviation Industry Concerns
  • Badgers and Bovine TB
  • BBC Funding
  • BBC World Service
  • Behaviour in Schools
  • Bite Back Better Campaign
  • Bomb Disposal and Whales
  • Bowel Cancer Awareness Month
  • Breast Cancer
  • Building Safety Bill
  • Bus Deregulation
  • Business and Human Rights
  • Campaign - #CatchUpWithCancer
  • Cancer Research
  • Cancer Treatment
  • Carers and Unpaid Carers
  • Cash Availability and Acceptance
  • Channel 4
  • Child Maintenance Service (CMS)’s Collect and Pay Service
  • Child Poverty
  • Children with Sight Loss (Education)
  • Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill
  • Climate Change
  • Commercial Energy Prices
  • Consular Services in Afghanistan
  • Conversion Therapy
  • COP26
  • COP26 Commitments (100 Days)
  • Coronavirus: Clinically Extremely Vulnerable
  • Coronavirus: Coronavirus Act
  • Coronavirus: Face Coverings
  • Coronavirus: Face Coverings in School
  • Coronavirus: Hospitality Support
  • Coronavirus: International Travel
  • Coronavirus: Mandatory Vaccination
  • Coronavirus: NHS and Social Care Staff (Vaccines)
  • Coronavirus: Provision of Tests
  • Coronavirus: Regulations and Living with COVID
  • Coronavirus: Self Isolation
  • Coronavirus: Support for the Self-Employed
  • Coronavirus: Testing (Childminders)
  • Coronavirus: Travel Industry Support
  • Coronavirus: Vaccines (Developing Countries)
  • Coronavirus: Vaccine Passports
  • Coronavirus: VAT Threshold
  • Cost of Living
  • Courier Employment Rights
  • Dangerous Dogs Act
  • Deaths Related to the Benefits System
  • Defibrillators and the Automated External Defibrillators (Public Access) Bill
  • Dementia Research and Diagnosis
  • Democratic Freedoms in the UK
  • Derby County Football Club
  • Diabetes
  • Disability Benefit Assessments
  • Domestic Abuse (Serial Abusers & Stalkers)
  • Domestic Abuse (Time Limits)
  • Dr Liam Fox’s Down Syndrome Bill
  • Early Years Funding
  • Education and Development Globally
  • Elections Act
  • Elections Act - Blind and Partially Sighted Voters
  • Elections Act - Electoral Commission
  • Elections Act - First Past the Post
  • Elections Act - Joint Campaigning
  • Electronic Communications Code
  • Elephants and Ivory Sales
  • End Child Poverty Coalition
  • Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
  • Energy Price Cap
  • Energy Security Strategy
  • Environment Bill
  • Epilepsy
  • Epilepsy: Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
  • Fairtrade Fortnight Campaign
  • Fire and Rehire Tactics
  • Fireworks
  • Football Governance
  • Football Index
  • Fracking
  • Free Trade Agreement with Australia
  • Fuel Duty and Prices
  • Fuel Shortages
  • Fur and Foie Gras
  • Future of the TV Licence
  • Gambling with Credit Cards
  • Gambling Regulation
  • Gas Boilers
  • Glue Traps
  • Good Law Project & Runnymede: Mike Coupe & Dido Harding
  • Government Contracts
  • Green Alternatives to Gas Boilers
  • Green Finance
  • Green Investment - 2021 Spending Review
  • Green New Deal
  • Guidance on Boycotts (Stop BDS)
  • Hamas
  • Hate Crime (Misogyny)
  • Health and Care Bill
  • Health and Care Bill: Integrated Care Boards and Private Sector Providers
  • Health and Care Bill: Privatisation
  • Health and Care Bill: Workforce
  • Health and Disability Green Paper
  • Heat Pumps
  • Hedgehogs
  • Hedgerows
  • HGV Driver Shortage
  • HIV and AIDS
  • Holiday Lets
  • Housing and the Queen’s Speech
  • Housing Emergency (Shelter)
  • Housing First
  • HS2 and the Environment
  • HS2: Cost Transparency
  • HS2: General
  • Human Rights Act
  • Hunting Act 2004
  • Illegal Immigration (Nationality and Borders Bill)
  • Improving Access to the Countryside
  • Intellectual Property
  • Interest on Student Loans
  • Internet Regulation
  • Islamophobia
  • Israel: Amnesty International
  • Ivory Sales
  • Judicial Review
  • Keeping Primates as Pets
  • TV Licence Fee
  • Live Animal Exports
  • Living Wage and Key Workers
  • Loan Charge
  • Local Electricity Bill
  • Maternity Services
  • Meadows and Grasslands
  • Medicinal Cannabis
  • Menopause
  • Mental Health
  • Mental Health Facilities
  • Mental Health Hubs (Children and Young People)
  • Midwifery Units
  • Migrant Channel Crossings
  • Modern Slavery
  • Motor Neurone Disease
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • National Insurance Contributions
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Accommodation for Asylum Seekers)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Asylum and Refugees)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Clause 9)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Clause 11)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Overseas Asylum Processing)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Unaccompanied Children)
  • Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
  • Neonicotinoids
  • New Plan for Immigration
  • NHS Pay
  • NHS Preparations for Winter
  • NHS Privatisation
  • Nigeria: Mubarak Bala
  • Offshore Wind
  • Oil Drilling and Cambo Oil Field
  • Online Marketplaces (Regulation)
  • Online Safety Bill (Misinformation)
  • Online Safety Bill (Pornography)
  • Online Safety Bill (Private Communications)
  • Online Safety Bill (Protecting Children from Online Porn)
  • Online Safety Bill (Suicide and Self-Harm)
  • Online Safety Bill (Women and Girls)
  • Onshore Wind
  • Onshore Wind (Planning)
  • Palestinian Human Right Defenders
  • Palliative Care
  • Pancreatic Cancer
  • Parental Bereavement
  • Parkinson's Disease
  • Pavement Parking
  • Peat
  • Plastic Pollution
  • Police and Sarah Everard Case
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Climate Protesters)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Courts and Tribunals)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Data Extraction)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Parliament Square)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Protection of Retail Workers)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Protests)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Protests and Noise)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Protests Tactics)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Unauthorised Encampments)
  • Polluter Pays Bill
  • Prescription Charges
  • Prisons (Violence) Bill
  • Private Rented Sector
  • Processing Asylum Claims in Rwanda
  • Proportional Property Tax
  • Prostate Cancer
  • Protection of Pollinators
  • Public Inquiry on COVID-19
  • Public Sector Pensions
  • Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill
  • Puppy and Kitten Sales
  • Radiotherapy
  • Rail Vs Air Travel
  • Reforming Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing
  • Right to Work Checks
  • Royal Mail
  • Sarcoma UK Drop-In Session
  • Save Our Pubs (CAMRA)
  • SEND Funding
  • Sentencing (Dangerous Driving)
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Shared Parental Leave
  • Social Care Cap (Means Test)
  • Stamp Duty Land Tax
  • State Pension
  • State Pension Age
  • Statutory Sick Pay
  • Stop and Search
  • Support for Deaf Pupils
  • Support for People with Disabilities
  • Support for Renters
  • Support for Road Hauliers
  • Support for the Pig Industry
  • Support for the Travel Industry
  • Sustainable Fishing
  • Tax Avoidance
  • Teachers’ Pay
  • Tourism and VAT
  • Training Collars for Dogs
  • Transport for Disabled People
  • Trophy Hunting
  • UK Foreign Aid
  • UK Trade and Business Commission’s First Annual Report
  • Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits - £20 per Week Uplift
  • Universal Credit Standard Allowance for Those Under 25
  • Universities: Antisemitism (IHRA Definition)
  • Uplands
  • Vaccinations for COVID-19
  • Valerie's Law
  • Vaping
  • VAT on Electric Vehicle Charging in Public Places
  • Violence Against Women and Girls
  • Voter ID
  • Voting System
  • Water Fluoridation
  • Wealth Tax
  • Welfare of Farm Animals
  • Young People’s Wellbeing

Andrew Selous MP South West Bedfordshire

Footer

  • About RSS
  • Accessibility
  • Cookies
  • Privacy
  • About Andrew
  • Constituency
  • In Parliament
This website is funded from Parliamentary allowances.
Copyright 2022 Andrew Selous MP South West Bedfordshire. All rights reserved.
Powered by Bluetree