Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Antoinette Sandbach and Lord Wharton of Yarm

Wednesday 16th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury) (Con)]

2. What steps her Department is taking to support education for girls in the developing world.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (James Wharton)]

Providing education for girls is a priority for this Government and this Department. In the last Parliament, we helped over 5 million girls to get the education that they need and deserve. In this Parliament we continue that work. The girls’ education challenge is the largest programme of its type in the world. Over the course of this Parliament, we will see 11 million children or more supported into education because of the work of the UK.

[Antoinette Sandbach]

In Afghanistan, adult women are more than twice as likely as men to be illiterate, with a literacy rate of just 24%, compared with 51% for men. Does the Minister agree that there is much work to be done to close the gap between girls and boys in developing countries, and that it is in Britain’s interests that we continue our world-leading efforts to close that gap?

[James Wharton]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. We will continue our efforts and continue our commitment. The UK Government are supporting 300,000 girls in Afghanistan to complete a full cycle of education. The drop-out rate for girls in Afghanistan is running at around 50%. We have to do what we can to tackle that—to help countries develop, to help address these imbalances and to secure a better future for those who live there, but for UK interests as well.