Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that education projects in Myanmar funded by the British taxpayer do not discriminate against ethnic minority languages.

The UK, together with the US, Australia and Finland, is providing funding to the Myanmar Education Consortium (MEC). MEC's principle focus is providing education for ethnic communities, often living in areas outside the military regime's control. MEC is supporting over 200,000 children in hard-to-reach areas and is also promoting ethnic languages so children can learn in their mother tongue as well as gender equality, disability and social inclusion.