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 consult with children's groups to help tackle barriers to education in developing countries.

The FCDO is committed to addressing barriers to education. An essential part of this is engaging with children, particularly girls, on the issues that affect them. In May 2023, officials met with adolescent girls to hear about the barriers to education they are facing, including early marriage, gender-based violence, poverty and conflict. Girls' Clubs, implemented through the UK's Girls' Education Challenge projects, consult students on the barriers they face to education and how best to overcome them. Club members in the Somali Girls' Education Promotion Programme achieved significantly higher gains in learning - 6.6 percentage points over and above their peers.