Commonwealth Education Projects (Hansard, 22 July 2002)

§ Clare short

The Government are strongly committed to the Millennium Development Goals on education: achieving universal primary education by 2015 and eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary schooling by 2005. Since May 1997, DFID has committed over £700 million to support primary education for poor people, mainly in the Commonwealth. We are using these funds to support national education policies which form part of developing country Governments' broader poverty reduction strategies. In 2002 our priority is to implement successfully these long-term programmes and to develop new partnerships with Commonwealth Governments.

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Achieving these education goals will require a strong commitment from Commonwealth Governments to prioritise primary education within their spending plans. Many Commonwealth countries will also need considerable external assistance. The Government are working to mobilise the international community in support of Education for All. Our aim is to achieve consensus by the end of 2002 on well co-ordinated international action for mobilising new resources and better co-ordinated programmes designed to meet this goal. We are giving high priority to working with the World bank to develop its new Action Plan for accelerating progress towards Education for All. We believe the Action Plan's fast track initiative provides an opportunity to try to ensure that no country genuinely committed to economic development, poverty reduction and good governance is denied the chance to achieve universal primary education through lack of resources.

The bank's fast track initiative offers seven poor Commonwealth countries the chance to qualify for additional financing for primary education if they can demonstrate that their Government is fully committed and has effective policies in place. A further four Commonwealth countries can apply for assistance in building capacity, filling gaps in data and developing effective policies for primary education. We will continue to support the fast track proposals and participate in on-going discussions with the World bank about implementation arrangements.