Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 January 2022
83. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the level of funding provided by his Department to programmes which help students from developing countries to remain in education for longer which is an objective of the Global Island Strategy. [3675/22]
View answerA Better World, the Government's policy for international development, committed to the scaling up of Irish Aid support for education.
In 2018, my Department made a pledge to provide €250 million in support to education up to 2023. By the end of 2020, Irish Aid had allocated over €113 million in assistance to education. The final outturn for 2021 is currently being calculated. These funds are supporting students in developing countries to complete primary and secondary education, as well as to move on to technical and vocational training or higher education.
Irish Aid’s education support has a strong focus on equity and inclusion. Irish Aid puts a particular emphasis on girls’ education, knowing that girls, especially as they reach adolescence, are more likely to have their education cut short. In 2020 Ireland launched a global call to action – the Drive for Five - calling on all governments and stakeholders to commit to transformative actions to get all adolescent girls into school and learning in safe, supportive, and healthy environments.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted education across the globe. Schools closed in 194 countries and 1.6 billion students missed on classroom instruction, many for months. During the early days of the pandemic, Irish Aid helped countries to ensure continuity of education for all children, especially girls. We are now supporting partners to safely reopening schools, with improved facilities, and interventions to make up for learning losses.
The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is Irish Aid’s largest education partner and is supporting over 67 developing countries to sustain learning and mitigate the education impacts of the pandemic. Ireland contributed €25 million to the GPE between 2018 and 2020. Last year, I made a new pledge to contribute €60 million to the GPE over five years, €10 million of which is earmarked for girls' education.
Children and youth in humanitarian emergencies or protracted crises are most vulnerable to missing education or dropping out completely. Ireland has a history of supporting education in emergencies, particular for Palestinian children through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Irish Aid also funds non-governmental organisations to provide education support for refugee and displaced children in the Sahel, in Central African Republic, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Jordan, South Sudan, Sudan and Somalia.
In A Better World, the government committed to scaling up our support for education in emergencies. In 2019 Ireland joined Education Cannot Wait, a global fund dedicated to supporting education in situations of war, forced displacement, natural and man-made, disasters and pandemics. To date, Ireland has contributed €8.85 million to Education Cannot Wait, and has committed an additional €3 million in 2022.
