UK parliament marks international education day with debate

Vicky Ford and Bambos Charalambous MPs and Co-Chairs of the APPG on Global Education taking the floor during the International Day of Education debate in the UK Parliament.

• To mark the International Day of Education, six UK Members of Parliament, including five IPNEd members, took the floor during a UK Parliament debate on global education and education in emergencies.

• Speakers highlighted the urgent need to invest in Education Cannot Wait (ECW) at the High-Level Financing Conference, the importance of ensuring children learn foundational skills, and the deteriorating situation for women and girls in Afghanistan. 

• The debate represented a strong demonstration of political leadership in support of education in emergencies, which is now more needed than ever.

Members of the U.K. Parliament (MPs) gathered on Thursday this week for a debate to mark the International Day of Education. In a lively and passionate discussion, MPs from across the political spectrum raised a number of global education challenges, highlighted opportunities for the UK to accelerate progress, and support much-needed collective action.

Attending from the UK Government were IPNEd members, Minister of State at the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, and the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Girls’ Education, Helen Grant MP.

Three of IPNEd’s priorities dominated the discussion: Education Cannot Wait’s High Level Financing Conference, the importance of ensuring children learn the foundational literacy and numeracy, and the deteriorating situation for women and girls in Afghanistan.

Supporting the education of children caught up in crises

With ECW’s High-Level Financing Conference in Geneva just weeks away, MPs were keen to spotlight the importance of ensuring the organisation is fully funded to deliver its new strategy. As raised by APPG on Global Education Co-Chair, Bambos Charalambous MP (Labour), the number of children living in emergencies in protracted crises has risen 196% since 2016 meaning that there are now 222 million children facing this predicament. In the face of unprecedented need, Mr. Charalambous urged the UK Government to heed the calls of cross-party parliamentarians, civil society and members of the British public to invest £170 million in ECW.

IPNEd’s founding global Co-Chair Harriett Baldwin MP echoed these calls citing the “very powerful value for money” that ECW offers and said there was an “opportunity for the UK to continue to show leadership.. with the replenishment with ECW”. 

Vicky Ford MP, the UK’s immediate past Minister for Development and another member of IPNEd added that “UK leadership is key” in this area but warned, “if we step away from the promises we have made to the children of the world... then other donors may also step back and reduce or delay their own investments". 

Ensuring all children learn to read

On foundational literacy and numeracy, there were a number of powerful interventions with several MPs giving time to stress the severity of the global learning crisis and the urgent need for the UK to step up its impact in addressing it. Ms Ford in particular raised how it is often the lowest-income countries where levels of illiteracy and innumeracy are most severe and reminded us that "maths and reading are the vital building blocks on which all learning upon which all education is founded". 

Citing that just one in ten of the 222 million crisis-affected children meet minimum proficiency levels in reading and maths, Mr Charalambous drew an important parallel between the learning crisis and the role of Education Cannot Wait. He concluded by saying that crisis-affected children “deserve to learn to read, write, do maths and prosper as much as any other child”, and that “these children are holding onto the hope that education will allow them to realise their dream of becoming a doctor, an engineer a scientist or a teacher”

Recognising these calls, Special Envoy Helen Grant MP urged governments “to prioritise education reforms, listen to civil society and not be afraid to partner with technical experts… to design reforms around evidence of what works”. She added, “We need to urgently recover from learning losses caused by COVID by focusing on foundational learning skills. Basic numeracy and literacy are essential for children to stay in school and progress to higher levels".

Responding on behalf of the government, Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP said that on foundational learning “we face a very real risk of a lost generation and we cannot let that happen”. Both Minster Trevelyan and Special Envoy Helen Grant MP stressed the government’s commitment to improving foundational learning and the transformative impact that teaching children to read, write and do maths can have on communities’ health, stability and prosperity.

Minister Trevelyan concluded by saying a quality education “begins with those strong foundations, basic reading, maths and social skills…that is why the UK launched a Commitment to Action on Foundational Learning… and we are calling on all governments to prioritise these basics”

Protecting the right to education in Afghanistan

There were calls from across the floor for the UK to do more to champion the plight of Afghan women and girls who are being locked out of education and denied basic civil liberties by the Taliban regime. Leading these calls was, Scottish National Party MP, Patricia Gibson, who spoke compellingly in calling for the UK Government to play a leading role in international efforts to secure the restoration of women and girls' right to education and other civil liberties in Afghanistan

Ms. Baldwin reiterated these calls, saying “there isn’t a day when I do not think about how terribly they are suffering from being not allowed to go to school. The medieval cruelty of the Taliban in preventing their daughters being educated..is appalling, we must speak out whenever we can about it… only by speaking out can we ever hope for the situation to change”. 

Mr. Charalambous added that Afghan girls “need more than warm words and solidarity, the UK must act”. He asked whether the Minister will rule out cutting funding to Afghan development programmes whilst negotiations with the de-facto authorities are ongoing and called for the FCDO to release its delayed Women and Girls Strategy. 

Debate also raises challenge posed by climate and cuts to education 

Some other notable themes the debate discussed were the importance of education for the global response to the climate crisis, the impact of cuts to the UK’s ODA budget on children’s access to education around the world, and the benefits of the UK to reinstating a separate department for international development as raised by Gareth Thomas MP (Labour). 

Concluding, Mr. Charalambous rounded off the discussion by quoting the words of 10-year-old Jenson, from Engaine Primary School in the Foreign Secretary’s Braintree constituency. Jenson and his classmates have been campaigning for Send My Friend to School and said: 

“We think every child has the right to have an education. Reasons that stop children from going to school like natural disasters and disease, war and famine are not chosen by the children.”

Mr. Charalambous’ parting call was for that to “ring true in all our ears and act now as we celebrate International Day of Education.” 

A world class demonstration of political leadership for education 

“The number, range and thoughtfulness of contributions by MPs during this debate on global education were genuinely inspiring," said IPNEd Executive Director, Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly.

“The debate was a world class demonstration of informed, evidence based political leadership in support of education and I want to thank everyone who participated. Special thanks must go to the Co-Chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Education, Vicky Ford MP (Conservative) and Bambos Charalambous MP (Labour) for their efforts in securing the debate. 

“I’m grateful to Ms. Baldwin who acknowledged the ‘marvellous’ work that IPNEd does and want to take this opportunity to acknowledge her vital constitution to the establishment and early success of the Network and wish her well as she steps down as IPNEd’s global Co-Chair to chair the UK Parliament’s powerful Treasury Select Committee.

You can watch the debate in full on Parliament TV.