Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the literacy rate in Zimbabwe.

In 2014 the UN assessed Zimbabwe's literacy rate at 88.7%, demonstrating the strong delivery of education since the early 1980s and placing Zimbabwe in the top ten of African countries. However, since 2018 the education system in Zimbabwe has been under significant pressure due to under-investment, low wages and COVID-19. As a result we are seeing increasing rates of school dropouts and lower pass rates, particularly amongst girls due to rising rates of early marriage and pregnancy. We do not have an updated UN assessment, however.

The UK is committed to supporting young people's education in Zimbabwe. Since 2017, we have annually supported 1.4 million of the poorest and most marginalised girls and boys in over 4,500 rural, remote primary and secondary schools through the provision of grants to ensure schools are adequately equipped and functional. Through our Zimbabwe Girls Secondary Education (ZGSE) Programme, we have also supported 57,000 marginalised girls to complete their secondary education.