Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has to help ensure that girls are not prevented from returning to education as schools reopen following the covid-19 pandemic.

Ensuring 12 years of quality education for all girls remains a UK priority. As the effects of the COVID-19 crisis play out, the impact on girls’ education is becoming increasingly clear. The UK’s response to the pandemic aims to tackle the preventative measures to girls returning to education by mitigating short term risks by focussing on safety, nutrition, wellbeing and learning whilst schools are closed; and supporting countries to protect and maintain education budgets in the longer term.

DFID is adapting its bilateral education programmes in 18 countries. The Global Partnership for Education, to which the UK is the largest donor, is flexing over £200 million to support education sector stability in response to the pandemic. The UK has also announced £20 million for UNICEF’s crisis appeal, which includes education, and a further £5 million to the Education Cannot Wait fund to support emergency education in fragile contexts.