As anger met the government’s announcement to reduce UK foreign aid spending on poorer nations to 0.5% of national income, it was revealed that it has already reneged on the Tory manifesto pledge by cutting primary and secondary education funding as part of £2.9bn of cuts made by Dominic Raab in July. The overseas aid budget for education was slashed by more than a quarter by the government this year.
There has been a 26% reduction in spend on education, according to analysis of data from the International Aid Transparency Initiative. Other areas of health funding that are critical for children – such as basic nutrition, family planning and reproductive healthcare – have also been cut.
Richard Watts, a senior adviser in development finance at Save the Children, said: “Primary and secondary education were the focus of these education cuts. While they have maintained projects specifically related to girls’ education, the cuts to primary and secondary education will have an important impact on girls’ education.”
Kevin Watkins, the CEO of Save the Children, said: “Government promises on international development are a meaningless currency at the moment. You can’t cut the aid budget by a third, and over and above the existing cuts, without pushing many vulnerable children over the edge. On heath, on education, on vaccines. To simultaneously cut the aid budget by a third and tell the world you can lead on education. That is chutzpah. They have cut a quarter from the education spend. Even if you were to protect spend on education, girls can be robbed of education by household poverty, which means they go hungry, or are taken out of school. If girls are hungry they are not going to learn, if their families are poor they will be taken out of school for child labour or child marriage.”
Overseas aid budget for education cut by a quarter this year, data shows | Aid | The Guardian
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