Developing Countries: Remote Education

(asked on 23rd February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2021 to Question 145839 on Developing Countries: Remote Education, whether the adoption of bilateral education programmes in each of the 18 countries involved the re-purposing of existing resources or additional funding.


Answered by
Wendy Morton Portrait
Wendy Morton
This question was answered on 1st March 2021

Our bilateral education programmes in 18 countries used existing resources in order to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the needs of children. This included a focus, first and foremost, on child protection as well as delivering low-tech or no-tech remote learning resources, to keep children engaged with their education during school closures. FCDO Education Advisers also supported eligible governments in securing additional financing towards their national COVID-19 response, particularly through the Global Partnership for Education's $500 million response funding window, of which the UK is the largest bilateral donor.

In addition, the UK has provided new funding for education at the global level. This included £5.3 million to UNHCR to fund the salaries of over 5,500 teachers in refugee camps in 10 countries, and a further £5 million to the Education Cannot Wait fund to support emergency education in conflict-affected contexts. We have also provided £20 million to UNICEF to protect vulnerable children.

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