Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2021 to Question 145839 on Developing Countries: Remote Education, whether the adoption of bilateral education programmes in each of the 18 countries involved the re-purposing of existing resources or additional funding.
Our bilateral education programmes in 18 countries used existing resources in order to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the needs of children. This included a focus, first and foremost, on child protection as well as delivering low-tech or no-tech remote learning resources, to keep children engaged with their education during school closures. FCDO Education Advisers also supported eligible governments in securing additional financing towards their national COVID-19 response, particularly through the Global Partnership for Education's $500 million response funding window, of which the UK is the largest bilateral donor.
In addition, the UK has provided new funding for education at the global level. This included £5.3 million to UNHCR to fund the salaries of over 5,500 teachers in refugee camps in 10 countries, and a further £5 million to the Education Cannot Wait fund to support emergency education in conflict-affected contexts. We have also provided £20 million to UNICEF to protect vulnerable children.