G7 Summit: United Kingdom Pledges £430m For Girls’ Education Amid Aid Row

The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has pledged £430m to improve education in some of the world’s poorest countries – with girls’ education a priority.

He made the pledge st the ongoing G7 Summit stating that it was a source of international shame that so many girls in poorer countries were missing out on access to school.

The prime minister said with an education, the children could have been titans of industry or scientific pioneers.

Johnson told world leaders gathered in Cornwall that “The best way we can lift countries out of poverty and lead a global recovery is by investing in education and particularly girls’ education.”

The prime minister has made girls’ education a flagship issue of the G7 – and the summit will approve plans to get 40 million more girls into school, in countries where girls might either be kept out of school or drop out early.

The £430m over five years will be the UK’s biggest amount contributed to the Global Partnership for Education, an international co-ordinating body which wants to raise $5bn (£3.5bn) at an education summit next month, for projects in 90 countries.

However, aid agencies are calling for a reversal of cuts to the UK’s aid budget which was made public recently.

The government has faced a rebellion, including from some of its own Members of Parliament, over the reduction in the international aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of national income.

The chair of the international development select committee said it was “ridiculous that the government trumpets its commitment to girls’ education” while cutting aid.