Ensuring every child gets a quality education is a building block for creating a fairer world. Despite this, millions of children still don’t receive the education they deserve. This past year, COVID-19 has interrupted school everywhere – and could mean a permanent end to learning for 20 million more secondary-school aged girls.
Now, governments must put education at the forefront of recovering from the pandemic, and generously commit to funding education. In the UK especially, we have an important role to play, with the Government co-hosting the Global Partnership for Education (GPE)’s fundraising moment in July. The GPE brings together governments and charities to transform education systems in lower-income counties and reach the most marginalised children.
UK aid has already had a huge positive impact on access to education right around the world, and the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister have made special commitments to improving girls’ education in the coming years. But proposed cuts to the UK aid budget are likely to jeopardise the progress that the UK government can make on these commitments.
We need to urge the Foreign Secretary to make the most of this moment and make an ambitious financial pledge to the GPE. This month, please write to the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab MP, asking him to pledge £600 million to GPE over the next five years. You can also take to social media to show support for funding global education.
See the action materials (below) for information on the context of this month’s campaign and ideas and guidance on taking action.
If you missed the grassroots conference call, read the blog and watch the recording here.
Campaign update – July, 2021
The UK Government announced a pledge of £430 million to GPE’s 2021-2025 replenishment. This is a good start but falls short of the pledge that we expect the UK to make, so we are continuing our advocacy on this issue and calling on the Prime Minister to top-up the pledge. Take our e-action to urge Boris Johnson to increase the pledge and #FundEducation more ambitiously! You can put your own spin on our template letter, and quickly share draft social media posts.
Read our statement on the UK’s pledge to GPE here (June 11, 2021).