Tag: global education

Paralympian and TV presenter Ade Adepitan MBE joins schoolchildren to protest against UK aid cuts

British schoolchildren took their fight for global education funding straight to Westminster yesterday, as part of a powerful protest against government cuts to overseas aid. 

Backed by TV presenter, Paralympian, and Street Child charity Ambassador Ade Adepitan MBE, students from the Send My Friend to School coalition urged policymakers to reverse the decline in education aid and prioritise investment in learning worldwide.

The demonstration came as the UK Government confirmed a further reduction in the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, slashing it from 0.5% to 0.3% of Gross National Income. 

With education already one of the most underfunded areas in global development, campaigners fear the cuts will leave millions more children without access to schooling.

Speaking at the event, Ade Adepitan reflected on the life-changing impact of education. “The only reason I’m where I am today is because of two reasons: luck and education,” he said.

“Lucky enough that my parents were brave enough to leave our home in Nigeria, give up everything for a better life, but also because of education. I was able to access a strong education in London that changed my life.”

Students leading the campaign made an impassioned case for urgent action, warning that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty.

“Education is not just about learning subjects like maths or science,” said student activist Ewura. “It’s about giving young people the tools to build a better future. When children are educated, they can help change the world.”

Echoing the call, fellow campaigner Davi urged the UK to step up its leadership on the issue: “That’s why campaigns like Send My Friend to School are so important,” he said. “They remind leaders that education should be a top priority. And as young people, we have a voice too.

“We can speak up, raise awareness, and encourage real action.”

The protest highlighted the sharp decline in UK aid for education over the past decade. In 2013, education accounted for 13.5% of bilateral ODA spending, but by 2023, this had plummeted to just 3.5%. 

While the UK remains the sixth-largest donor by volume, it now ranks 25th among OECD-DAC countries in prioritisation, falling far behind its international counterparts.

The Send My Friend to School coalition is demanding urgent action from the UK Government, calling for:

• A commitment to protect and reprioritise education aid within ODA spending.

• Full funding for key global education initiatives, including the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait.

• Stronger UK support for international tax and debt reforms to help low-income countries sustainably increase their own education budgets.

While aid remains crucial, 87% of education financing in low-income countries comes from domestic sources. 

Campaigners argued that the UK has a vital role in ensuring governments have the resources to invest in quality education for all.

The event was part of a wider movement, with Send My Friend to School mobilising 250,000 UK students every year to push for global education rights. 

As the UK reassesses its international development priorities, campaigners are urging leaders to reaffirm their commitment to ensuring that education remains central to the country’s foreign aid agenda.

PM calls on G7 to help educate every child in the world

Over one billion children in the world’s poorest countries will see a transformation in their educational opportunities thanks to £430 million of new UK aid announced by the Prime Minister today.

  • PM used first session of the G7 Summit to rally world leaders to build back better
  • £430 million of new UK aid announced to get world’s most vulnerable children, particularly girls, into school
  • Next month Global Education Summit will take place in London to raise further funding

Over one billion children in the world’s poorest countries will see a transformation in their educational opportunities thanks to £430 million of new UK aid announced by the Prime Minister today (Friday 11th June).

In this afternoon’s first session of the UK’s G7 Summit, leaders discussed how to build back better from the coronavirus pandemic in a way that creates opportunities for everyone. Ensuring all girls get a quality education is central to that goal.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused an unprecedented global education crisis, with 1.6 billion children around the world out of school at its height. Girls have been hardest hit as the pandemic compounded the obstacles to education girls already face, including poverty, gender-based violence and child marriage.

The support announced by the UK today will go to the Global Partnership for Education, the largest fund dedicated to education in developing countries.

Since it was established in 2002 GPE has contributed to the largest expansion of primary and lower secondary schooling in history, getting 160 million more children into school. In countries where GPE works the number of girls enrolling in school has increased by 65 per cent.

Next month the UK and Kenya will co-host the Global Education Summit in London which aims to help raise $5 billion to support the work of the GPE over the next five years. The funding boost pledged by the UK and other G7 countries will go a considerable way towards achieving this goal.

Getting girls into school is one of the easiest ways to lift countries out of poverty and help them rebound from the coronavirus crisis – a child whose mother can read is twice as likely to go to school themselves and 50% more likely to be immunised. With just one additional school year, a woman’s earnings can increase by a fifth.

Supporting girls’ education is therefore a cornerstone of the UK’s G7 Presidency. Today G7 leaders reaffirmed their commitment to targets set at the G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in May to get 40 million more girls into school and 20 million more girls reading by the age of 10 in the next five years. The work of the GPE will be instrumental in helping achieve those targets.

Today the Prime Minister called on fellow leaders to make their own major commitments to achieve these targets, as well as the ambition to ensure every girl in the world receives 12 years of quality education.

Italy and the European Commission have already made pledges of €25 million and €700 million respectively to GPE and further announcements on funding are expected from G7 partners in the coming days.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “The best way we can lift countries out of poverty and lead a global recovery is by investing in education and particularly girls’ education.

“It is a source of international shame that every day around the world children bursting with potential are denied the chance to become titans of industry, scientific pioneers or leaders in any field, purely because they are female, their parents’ income or the place they were born.

“I am calling on other world leaders, including those here at the G7, to also donate and put us firmly on a path to get more girls into the classroom, address the terrible setback to global education caused by coronavirus and help the world build back better.”

The £430m of new aid funding announced today will go towards GPE’s work in 90 lower-income countries that are home to 1.1 billion children over the next five years. In time GPE aim to train 2.2 million more teachers, build 78,000 new classrooms and buy 512 million textbooks.

This funding pledge for the Global Partnership for Education is separate to the £400m of UK aid which will be spent this year on bilateral efforts to increase girls’ access to education.