International Day of Education

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Thursday 22nd January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) for securing the debate—I am sorry that I could not have been here earlier; I was in the Chamber.

I know the focus of the debate is on what Britain does when it comes education, but the other side of it is that many churches across all of this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including in my constituency, have built schools and universities. Does the hon. Gentleman recognise the good work done by the churches in my constituency? The Elim church has built a hospital, a health centre, a primary school and a secondary school, and it does work on job training for farming as well. All these things are done by people from Newtownards going to Malawi, to Swaziland and to Zimbabwe. That is an example of what can happen if we all look at some of the good things that are happening.

[Valerie Vaz (in the Chair)]

Order. The debate is about the International Day of Education.

[Andrew Rosindell]

That was a fine intervention and I entirely endorse everything the hon. Gentleman said. One of the reasons Britain has had so much outreach around the world is because of our Christian foundations. It is so important to uphold and cherish our Christian heritage. Of course, Christian missionaries have travelled the world and established schools, hospitals, universities and churches, helping countries far and wide and people of all religions. I entirely endorse the hon. Gentleman’s examples from his constituency; my constituency also has many churches that do excellent work and support causes around the world. I thank him for raising that point.

The Commonwealth is, I believe, a tangible force for good—I am sure we can all agree with that—and it should be central to any Government’s foreign policy. A voluntary association bound by shared language, legal traditions and educational standards embodies the very arguments that we are debating here in Parliament this afternoon. Above all, it provides Britain with a unique global reach that no other country enjoys. There are Commonwealth countries in every part of the world, including, let us not forget, our cherished overseas territories and Crown dependencies, such as the British Indian Ocean Territory, which should remain a British territory.

The Commonwealth has presented our great nation with an inheritance that is the envy of the world. But, obviously, soft power works only when it also serves the national interest. I am afraid that is where this debate has to be honest. Too often, international education policy has drifted away from British priorities and towards fashionable global causes, administrated by bloated bureaucracies with little regard for value for money or outcomes. My new party, Reform UK, believes in engagement with the world, but on Britain’s terms, not at our expense.

Last month, in my previous role as shadow Minister, I met with the British Council. It does invaluable work—I place that clearly on the record—but what I heard in that meeting should concern the House. Funding from the Foreign Office has still not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The British Council is being forced to consider the closure of up to 35 country offices, with 10 having already been lost during covid. Just £20 million would stabilise the British Council network, yet at the same time, this Government appear perfectly relaxed writing cheques running into the tens of billions for the handover of a British territory, thereby betraying British people, based on questionable interpretations of international obligations that deliver nothing tangible for the British taxpayer.

[Valerie Vaz (in the Chair)]

Order. I ask the hon. Member to stick to the motion.

[Sam Rushworth]

While the hon. Member is on that point, we are all aware of a letter that he wrote in 2020, in which he urged President Elect Joe Biden to do exactly what the Government are doing. Will the hon. Member say why his opinion has changed on the matter?

[Andrew Rosindell]

I am so pleased that the hon. Member has raised that point. With your permission, Ms Vaz, I will answer it.

[Valerie Vaz (in the Chair)]

I have been advised that we have to stick to the motion, which is about the International Day of Education.

[Andrew Rosindell]

I will certainly do so. To say one brief thing to the hon. Member, the letter was written to reflect the consensus of an all-party parliamentary group that I happened to be the chair of. The letter did not necessary reflect my opinions on everything. Self-determination should always determine decisions.

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[Valerie Vaz (in the Chair)]

Order. Could the hon. Member address the Chair, please?

[Andrew Rosindell]

I will go back to the point. We are told that there is no money for the British Council, yet somehow we find the cash for all sorts of other things: for housing the people who are coming to this country illegally; for the failing digital identification experiment; and for a long list of projects that do nothing to strengthen Britain’s position in the world or to promote education.

I am sure we will shortly hear warm words from the Minister about the importance of international education, and rightly so, but those words will ring hollow when the Government are presiding over an erosion of Britain’s ability to support education, influence and cultural engagement across the globe. What makes matters worse is that the cuts are focused on British Council offices in developed countries—the countries that need our support more than most. These are places where English teaching may not be the primary objective, but where influence, networks, science, culture and diplomacy absolutely are.

The British Council is certainly not just an English teaching charity. Its stated aims are to foster cultural, scientific, technological and educational co-operation with the United Kingdom. Undermining that mission weakens Britain. However, Reform UK is not calling for a blank cheque—far from it. If Britain is to help educate the world, that education must champion the United Kingdom and its values, free speech, our model of parliamentary Government and the rule of law. It must never put Britain second.

We should not be funding programmes to apologise for our history, undermine our institutions, or promote ideologies fundamentally hostile to our way of life. Nor should international education be used as a back door for uncontrolled migration or permanent settlement. Students should come to Britain to learn, and then return home as ambassadors for this country and assets to their peers. They should certainly not be numbers that disappear into a broken system that is already overstretched.

Ahead of the International Day of Education, I say that, yes, education changes lives, but it also helps to shape geopolitics. If we hollow out our soft power while pouring money into symbolic global gestures, we will wake up—as we have for some time—poorer, weaker and less respected. Reform UK believes that Britain should engage with all nations of the world and treat all countries with respect, working with all nationalities and peoples for the best interests of humanity, but always in Britain’s national interest. Our educational institutions and global networks remain world class—dare I say, the best—but the question is whether the Government are willing to end the bipartisan policy of managed decline and once again put British cultural influence back on the map.

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[Monica Harding]

I agree 100%, and let us not forget that children are left behind in our country too. In my Esher and Walton constituency, we found that 1,800 children were missing school because of special educational needs and disabilities. Pupil referral units do brilliant work in bringing children back into mainstream education, which is good for our economy and for growth.

As I said, children around the world are missing education; the global aid cuts will increase that number and that rise will be concentrated in humanitarian hotspots. Education systems are being put under strain by the combined impact of conflict, climate shocks and humanitarian collapse. Last year alone, 242 million students in 85 countries saw their schooling disrupted by climate events.

Education is not a luxury; it underpins development, public health, gender equality and long-term stability, yet the global commitment is weakening just as pressures on education systems intensify. International education funding is projected to fall by $3.2 billion dollars this year—a 24% cut—placing an additional 5.7 million children at risk of dropping out of school. Cuts to the United States Agency for International Development alone are expected to push 23 million children out of education in the years ahead.

Girls will be hardest hit, with gender-focused education aid projected to fall by 28% this year, despite clear evidence that educating girls delivers some of the highest returns of any development investment. At the same time, primary education funding faces a 34% cut, with severe long-term consequences for literacy, numeracy and economic growth. Against that backdrop, the Government’s decision to cut the aid budget to the lowest level this century will only deepen the global education crisis, undermining long-term stability, prosperity and the UK’s influence abroad.

With aid projected to fall to 0.3% of national income by 2027, education funding is already being squeezed, and overseas education spending is set to drop by 40% this year alone. At the same time, one fifth of the aid budget is now spent on in-country refugee costs, crowding out overseas investment—precisely the spending that helps prevent instability and forced displacement in the first place.

Britain has not always stood on the sidelines. For many years, the UK was a leading global voice on education—particularly girls’ education—backing that leadership with sustained multilateral investment. Between 2015 and 2020 alone, UK aid helped more than 15 million children attend school worldwide.

I will now illustrate the scale of the crisis by giving examples from some of the worst-affected areas globally. Nowhere is the global collapse in education more stark than in Afghanistan, where more than 2 million girls are formally banned from secondary and higher education, making it the only country in the world to exclude girls from school legally. Meanwhile, learning outcomes for boys in the country deteriorate amid systemic breakdown. The collapse in education in Afghanistan has been worsened by the collapse of international aid: the United States has effectively disengaged from Afghanistan, while British aid to the country has fallen by nearly half over the past five years.

In the Gaza strip, over 650,000 children—almost the entire school-age population—have received little or no formal education for years, with around 97% of schools in the region having been damaged or destroyed. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which has long been the backbone of education provision for Palestinian refugee children, educated over half a million children in the Gaza strip and the west bank. However, it is now operating under severe legal and operational constraints imposed by the Israeli Government, including bans in east Jerusalem, the demolition of facilities, and restrictions on staff, utilities and partner NGOs.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where more than 7 million children are already out of school due to conflict and displacement, a flagship education programme for girls that was previously supported by British aid is set to close this year. That will affect 170,000 children in just one region, the vast majority of whom are girls, and is a direct consequence of our aid cuts.

In fragile and conflict-affected states, education is not only about future opportunity; it also provides safety, routine and dignity right now. Schools often deliver clean water, meals, sanitation and access to child protection services. Yet globally, school feeding programmes face cuts of over 50%, while education in emergencies has been reduced by 24%, with countries such as Haiti, Somalia and the Central African Republic losing aid that is equivalent to more than 10% of their public education budget.

It should not be, and does not have to be, this way. The Liberal Democrats believe that education must be a protected priority within the aid budget and not a discretionary extra. However, that requires reversing the aid cuts and setting out a clear path back to meeting the legally enshrined target of spending 0.7% of national income on aid. I respectfully point out to the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) that although I agree with his words about the British Council and the potential cuts to its budget, and about the influence of British education, it is impossible to see how the British Council could be protected under the cuts that his party is proposing, whereby just 0.1% of GNI would be spent on ODA.

The International Day of Education is a reminder that behind every statistic in this area is a child whose future depends on political choices. If we are serious about reducing poverty, empowering women and building stability—which in turn will benefit the UK by providing economic trading opportunities in global markets, less compelling reasons for people to migrate to these shores, and more global stability and security for our citizens—education must move from the margins to the centre of our international priorities.

[Valerie Vaz (in the Chair)]

We now come to the winding-up speeches. The Front Benchers have 10 minutes each.

[Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz, and I thank the hon. Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) for securing this debate.

What is education for? It is about so much more than remembering facts to pass exams. It is about lighting a spark in our children, and fostering their creative spirit and critical thinking to ensure that every child grows up with the life skills, the confidence and the resilience they need to be happy, healthy and successful adults, however that looks for each individual. In my view, that is every bit as important as academic achievement. In line with the theme of this year’s International Day of Education—the power of youth in co-creating education—we should all seek to create an educational environment that allows children the world over to learn and to ignite that spark.

The Liberal Democrats believe that education is the best investment that we can make in our children’s potential and our country’s future—indeed, every country’s future. It is the root of everything that follows in adult life: the potential for better health; the ability to work and earn a living; and the skills that enable people to participate in work, sport, craft, music and all the other things that enrich a human life. As the International Day of Education celebrates, education also has a significant role to play in enabling peace and development. The United Nations sustainable development goal 4 recognises education as a foundation for “escaping poverty” and for fostering peaceful, healthy societies.

When a girl goes to school, she is more likely not only to achieve higher educational outcomes—that much seems obvious—but to earn more and contribute to economic growth, and to participate in decision making in her community and country. She will be healthier, as will her children. She is less likely to be subject to child marriage, and to experience harmful practices and unwanted pregnancy.

Since the sustainable development goals were set in 2015, girls’ enrolment has increased by more than 50 million globally, with 5 million more girls annually completing each level of education up to upper secondary, but still more than 100 million girls of school age across the world are not in formal education today. One of the worst examples, as other Members have mentioned, is Afghanistan, where over 2.2 million girls are officially barred from attending school. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are prohibited from accessing secondary and higher education. As families lose hope for their daughters’ futures, there has been a rise in forced and child marriages. Girls are kept hidden and are silenced. The Liberal Democrats want to see a foreign policy agenda with gender equality at its heart. The lives of women and girls must not be ignored in favour of trade or regional alliances, and we call on the Government to immediately restore full funding to educational programmes that support women and girls.

At this very difficult time, I am sure that I am not alone in being deeply troubled by the lack of visibility on the world stage of women who are helping to build peace and reconciliation in various conflict zones. As President Trump builds his so-called board of peace, it looks like there will be more male billionaires represented than women. Where are the women who will speak up for their local communities and civil society, and have a deep and vested interest in securing peace and stability for their children’s future?

Evidence shows that women’s participation in peace agreements increases the probability of them lasting at least two years by 20%, and lasting 15 years by 35%, yet in a UN study, decision making was left to a small group of male leaders in 15 of the 16 national dialogues examined. We see this every day on our TV screens, and I suggest that it starts with education. If we do not give girls the tools and knowledge to grow up to be part of that conversation, we embed that dangerous imbalance and perpetuate in boys the idea that theirs are the only voices that matter.

Looking globally, perhaps the lesser-told story is that an almost equal number of boys are out of school worldwide, and the biggest disparity is poverty related. In the poorest countries, 36% of students are out of school, compared with 3% in the richest countries, and almost three quarters of the global out-of-school population is in central and southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The astonishing and moving example recounted by the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) shows how education can transform not only lives, but communities and countries.

The UK has an important role to play in reducing this stark international educational inequality. As proud internationalists, the Liberal Democrats believe that our country thrives when we are open and outward looking, and that applies so much to education. The Liberal Democrats value the UK’s central role in founding UNESCO, and we remain steadfast in supporting its mission to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science and culture. Most important, we want to restore the UK’s reputation as an international development superpower, by restoring spending to 0.7% of national income and re-establishing an international development Department. We would also recognise the role of education as a force for good, by committing to spend 15% of ODA on education in the world’s most vulnerable areas.

We should focus not just on what the UK can provide to the world on education, but on what we can learn from the world to improve our own system. The part of our education system that is in the worst shape is the way we educate children who have additional needs and disabilities. Broken by the previous Conservative Government, the SEND system is failing those children every single day. Years of cuts to school and council budgets have left parents struggling to secure the support their children need, and the system has become intrinsically adversarial, pitting councils and parents against each other in a situation that is not fair to either of them. It urgently needs reform. Although it is welcome that the Government recognise that, it is incredibly important that they get it right.

I urge the Government to look overseas for inspiration. On a recent trip to Ontario as part of the Education Committee’s inquiry into SEND, we saw a significant focus on communication right from kindergarten. Parents there do not have to fight for support because dialogue works, families are listened to, and behaviour is seen as a form of communication. In Ontario, they understand that we must listen to what our SEND children are trying to tell us and focus on inclusion rather than exclusion. Their approach is worlds away from our combative system. I therefore hope that when the Government come forward with their schools White Paper and set out SEND reform, they will draw on the success stories of SEND systems overseas, such as Ontario’s, to create a system that truly places children, young people, families and carers at its core.

Our education system should also draw on world-class, internationally recognised programmes that are used around the world, such as the international baccalaureate diploma programme. The IB sets a global benchmark for education and is trusted by universities, employers and educators worldwide. The Government’s recent decision to slash the large programme uplift funding, which allows state schools to provide the IB, simply makes no sense. The money saved is a drop in the ocean in the overall Department for Education budget, but by stripping that funding away, the Government are stealing opportunity and further entrenching the divide between our state and private schools. No Government who want to truly close the attainment gap would pursue that policy. That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to reverse the cuts to the large programme uplift and ensure that any school wishing to deliver the IB diploma has the funding to do so.

Zooming out to look at our education system more broadly, it is fair to say that, like the rest of the world, we also suffer from persistent levels of educational inequality. Far too many children are leaving school without the skills they need to succeed. The disadvantage gap we see when children walk through the school door on day one grows throughout the education years and is wider at age 16 than it is at age five, according to research from the Education Policy Institute. It is down to us to fix this stubborn inequality. The Institute for Fiscal Studies notes that the gap in GCSE attainment between rich and poor households in this country has remained largely constant for the past 20 years.

To address the failings in our education system that are leading to inequality, the Liberal Democrats call on the Government to take steps including a tutoring guarantee for every disadvantaged pupil who needs extra support, high-quality early years education to help to close the attainment gap by giving disadvantaged children aged three and four an extra five free hours a week, and tripling the early years pupil premium to £1,000 a year.

We want a Government who fulfil their role in helping to reverse the worrying trends in global educational inequality, especially when it comes to women and girls, who look overseas at what the world can do for our own education system, and who properly address the educational inequalities that persist here in the UK. We must ensure that every child’s education provides the tools they need to thrive in every aspect of their life.

[Valerie Vaz (in the Chair)]

I call the Opposition spokesperson, Lincoln Jopp—congratulations on your new post.