Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential merits for her policies of the recommendations in the Send My Friend To School report Safe from harm: protecting every child and teacher at school; and whether the Government plans to sign the Safe Schools Declaration.

Children living through conflict and crisis are particularly vulnerable to violence, including violent attacks against their schools. That’s why the UK is proud to have signed up to the Safe Schools Declaration and is a leading donor to Education Cannot Wait – a fund to provide education in emergencies with the protection of children at its core.

As set out in DFID’s Education Policy ‘Get Children Learning’, preventing and responding to violence against children in schools is a key priority for DFID. This has the potential for positive impacts beyond increasing child safety at school, through achieving better-quality education, and safer, more stable societies. As such DFID welcomes the policy priorities set out in the Send My Friend to School report ‘Safe from harm: Protecting every child and teacher at school.’

DFID has a long history of work to make schools safe. Through the Girls’ Education Challenge and What Works to Prevent Violence programmes, in particular, we have prevented and responded to physical, emotional and sexual violence in schools in countries all over the world and established the evidence base for what works. DFID is also partnering with the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, the United Nations Children’s Fund and others to launch the international ‘Safe to Learn’ campaign in 2019. This campaign intends to spark and accelerate action to end all violence in schools.