UK in Women’s Day launch of girls’ education drive for India

The UK government marked International Women's Day on Tuesday with the launch of a girls' education drive aimed at developing countries, including India.

As part of the new Girls' Education Skills Partnership, the UK will be working with UNICEF's Generation Unlimited (GenU) to help deliver the programme with key business partners funding GenU being Accenture, Standard Chartered, Unilever, Microsoft, and United Bank for Africa.

The British government is contributing an initial GBP 9 million, with businesses providing GBP 11 million in total towards what has been termed as the UK's first education partnership of its kind.

"The United Kingdom has long been a proud and mighty champion of this fundamental cause and today we take one leap further through our first Global Partnership of its kind — opening the opportunity for one million girls across the developing world to have access to high quality skills training," said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he hosted the business leaders involved in the initiative at Downing Street in London on Monday night.

"Ensuring every girl and young woman across the globe receives 12 years of quality education is the greatest tool in our armoury to end the world's great injustices. Delivering on this mission will be one of the best defences against ignorance, ensure the greatest protection from prejudice and put a rocket booster behind our hopes and dreams for global development in the years to come," he said.

Funding from the programme will help expand GenU's Passport to Earning (P2E) platform, a digital skills platform designed to provide girls with free, certified education and skills training which they can then use to support future employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. India is among seven countries identified for the P2E platform, alongside Brazil, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Niger and Egypt.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Supporting women and girls is at the heart of UK foreign policy. We want women to have agency over their own lives and to be free to succeed. "Investing in girls' education is vital for a more sustainable, peaceful and prosperous future. That's why we are partnering with the private sector to help girls in developing countries access education and job opportunities." Under the new partnership, businesses, charities, schools and colleges will shortly be able to bid for funds from the programme. It wants to support projects that will improve access to education for girls, with a focus on providing the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills needed to find work in key sectors such as technology and manufacturing.

This could include funding new skills training programmes, improving teaching or redesigning training to make it more relevant to business needs. Initially bids will be encouraged for projects in Nigeria and Bangladesh, two countries seen as facing significant barriers to girls' education.

Some of the businesses involved will be contributing a range of resources including books, computers and other technology, mentors, advice and access to their networks, skills and training programmes. The private sector involvement will help ensure that education and learning opportunities provide girls with the skills for the future that employers need, the UK government said.

According to official estimates, the pandemic has created even more barriers to education, with a peak of 1.6 billion children around the world having faced school closures.

"Every girl everywhere deserves to have an education. From school right the way through to the workplace, our partnership will help give women and girls the skills they need to reach their full potential," said Helen Grant, the UK Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Girls' Education.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the UK plays a leading role in the education sector globally and that between 2015 and 2020, it supported at least 15.6 million children in developing countries to gain a decent education, including 8.1 million girls.

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