§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what help she provides to assist the development of primary education in the Great Lakes Region. [60247]
§ Clare ShortSince 1998 we have committed over £100 million to help develop and improve the education sectors in Uganda and Rwanda, with particular emphasis on primary education. Both Uganda and Rwanda have made significant achievements and are on track to achieve the International Development Target of Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2015.
We do not provide direct assistance to education programmes in the other Great Lakes countries, where our main focus is on supporting the peace process and providing humanitarian aid. Full scale development efforts are impossible in countries still in conflict. As 727W progress is made in resolving the conflicts in Burundi and DRC rebuilding the education system will be an important issue and we will look for early opportunities to encourage the IEIs (particularly the EU) to provide effective support for education in these countries. We will also look at the UK's bilateral role in rebuilding these countries.