Written evidence submitted by Send My Friend to School
Send My Friend to School is the UK’s coalition for global education, comprised of 22 international development NGOs, UK charities and teachers’ unions. Over the past two decades, hundreds of thousands of young people in primary and secondary schools across the UK have joined our campaign to demand the UK Government plays its part in ensuring every child receives their right to free, inclusive, equitable and quality education. We have answered questions 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 from the terms of reference.
Word count: 1467 (including questions and answers only)
Introduction
Education is a fundamental human right and essential public good, as well as one of the most effective tools for poverty reduction and long-term development. The UK has historically been a strong champion for inclusive, quality education, and has played an important role in strengthening systems and galvanising international support for inclusive learning worldwide.
Despite this, education has been identified as an area for deprioritisation amidst a smaller budget. This comes at a time when 272 million children are out of school, 1 in 10 children in sub-Saharan Africa can read proficiently by age 10, and 234 million children live in crisis-affected settings.[1][2][3] By the end of 2026, ODA to education is projected to fall by 24% from 2023 levels, resulting in an additional 6 million children out of school.[4] Meanwhile, school-age populations in low-and middle-income countries are growing out of pace with investment, and gaps in basic skills are projected to cost the global economy $10 trillion annually by 2030.[5]
While states are the duty-bearers for the right to education, pressures on public budgets make it difficult for many low-income countries to deliver education for every child, even when achieving international targets for budget prioritisation.[6] ODA remains critical for strengthening systems to meet their mandates and closing gaps for the most marginalised children. UK investments in this area have long-lasting, catalytic impacts across development, and must remain a part of the future of UK aid and development assistance.
1.1 UK ODA should be laser-focused on reducing poverty and inequality, in line with the International Development Act, targeting the communities with the greatest needs, including in humanitarian contexts. The UK should prioritise thematic focuses and investments which align most closely with this goal.
1.2 Equality impact assessments should be applied prior to making funding decisions, using robust, transparent methods to prevent disproportionate harm to marginalised groups, including children.
1.3 Value-for-money must be assessed on reducing poverty globally and maximising the impact of each pound to do so, as emphasised in the International Development Committee’s recent report on the issue.[7]
1.4 Inclusive, quality education must remain a core priority in the mission to reduce poverty and inequality, as a primary pathway for social mobility and the foundation for progress across development.
1.4.1 Since 1980, education has contributed to 50% of global economic growth, 70% of income gains among the world’s poorest, 40% of extreme poverty reduction, and 50% of gender-based income inequality reduction. [8]
1.4.2 Education enables progress across health, gender equality, political participation, climate adaptation and mitigation, peace, political stability and employment. [9]
1.5 Development assistance for education should prioritise the most marginalised children, including children in low-income countries and crisis-affected contexts, children with disabilities, and other groups at risk of exclusion. The UK should also prioritise basic education, given the UK’s particular value-add in this area and its importance for achieving more equitable outcomes on foundational learning, including basic literacy and numeracy skills. [10]
1.6 Education produces high returns on investment. Each year of education generates a 10% increase in individual earnings, rising to 20% for girls. [11][12] If every child were in school and learning, global GDP could be boosted by $6.5 trillion, dwarfing the $100 billion annual shortfall to reach SDG4 targets. [13][14]
2.1 The UK should recognise the strategic role of education in promoting global stability. Education fosters peace, tolerance, gender equality, democratic participation, and conflict reduction. It is also life-saving and life-sustaining, giving hope for a better future to those in conflict and helping countries rebuild.
2.2 The UK should prioritise a multilateral approach to delivery and maintain investments in the two main multilateral funds for education, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and Education Cannot Wait (ECW), both due for replenishment in 2026.
2.2.1 GPE is a partnership and pooled fund which combines policy influence, coordination and accountability across the education sector, changing how countries and donors work together on education. GPE focuses on sector-wide systems reform, rather than isolated projects, and supports governments to develop and implement national education sector plans that bring coherence across donors, aligning domestic and external funding. GPE provides catalytic, debt-free finance that strengthens national ownership and unlocks greater domestic and multilateral investment.
2.2.2 ECW provides rapid, coordinated funding for education crisis contexts where other mechanisms cannot. It offers a unique partnership platform to pool resources and risks across education actors responding in emergencies, uniting donors, governments, civil society and the private sector around shared priorities to deliver quick emergency response and steady, multi-year investment.
2.2.3 GPE and ECW are highly effective and adaptive multilaterals, both achieving A ratings in their most recent FCDO annual reviews.[15][16] These funds complement each other, bridging the development-humanitarian nexus and have been adapting to the changing funding and values landscape by reducing duplication, aligning priorities, centring local actors and communities, and unlocking catalytic financing.
2.2.4 As a founding partner and one of the largest donors to both funds, the UK’s continued financial support for GPE and ECW sends an important signal of confidence to other donors and partner governments. Maintained investment also allows the UK to multiply its impact by encouraging others to invest, leveraging its technical expertise, safeguarding its past investments, and ensuring that funding supports long-term resilience.
3. What needs to change to realise the goal of moving from paternalistic models and relationships to partnerships?
3.1 Governance and power structures should be critically examined, understanding that development partnerships are shaped by coloniality, racism and historical power imbalances across systems, cultures, mindsets and resource flows. This is essential to avoid upholding and reinforcing neo-colonial structures in relationships with low-income countries.
3.2 The UK’s strategic and thematic priorities should reflect those of partner countries and community members. Surveys have shown that children and their families in conflict zones around the world consistently rank education as one of their top priorities.[17] In October 2025, partner governments in the African Union declared 2025-2034 as the Decade of Accelerated Action for the Transformation of Education and Skills Development in Africa.[18] A serious commitment to partnership over paternalism would reflect these priorities in the UK’s approach.
3.3 Decision-making should be shifted closer to delivery and power to determine priorities should reside within national and local governments, civil society, and communities. GPE and ECW provide exemplary models for combining local ownership, mutual accountability and results-driven transparency.
3.3.1 GPE is the only global education mechanism with shared governance, including equal representation from donor and partner governments, civil society, teachers, and the private sector. Shared governance ensures alignment with country priorities and ensures education reforms are nationally owned and accountable to citizens, not externally imposed. GPE aligns funding with national education plans and supports local civil society through its Education Out Loud grant funding.
3.3.2 ECW is moving resources and decision-making power closer to the frontlines by increasing direct support to national and local actors, using a consortia model where direct funding is not possible. They centre local priorities by offering flexible funding and through designing its programmes via the Education Cluster, which includes local and international actors, as well as national authorities, where the situation allows. ECW supports local leadership to connect education with livelihoods, climate adaptation and youth engagement, which strengthens resilience and upholds dignity that lasts beyond the life of a single grant.
3.4 The UK should support Southern-led calls for global financial reforms and take more ambitious action to address historic inequities in the global financial system. Debt distress, illicit financial flows and unequal governance constrain domestic investment in public services, including education. Supporting initiatives such as the UN Convention on Tax and the proposed UN debt workout mechanism would demonstrate seriousness in the UK’s commitment to supporting countries to fund their own public systems and its understanding that sustainable development cannot rely on external resources, including the private sector.
5. How can the UK Government align its development work with taxpayer expectations, and ensure value for money?
5.1 A YouGov poll conducted in September 2025 found a majority of the British public (55%), including 68% of Labour voters and 74% of young people aged 18-25, believes that development assistance should be spent on education. [19] This shows taxpayers expect education to remain a part of the UK’s investment portfolio.
5.2 Continued investment in inclusive education offers an accessible narrative to communicate what UK investments are enabling. Improving access and quality of education embodies values of equality and fairness, and is a common-sense part of any future-oriented development assistance agenda.
5.3 Equality impact assessments should be conducted at all stages of planning, delivery and evaluation. Crucially, data should be disaggregated by gender, age, and disability to track inclusion.
5.4 Value-for-money on education should be assessed beyond short-term, easy-to-measure metrics, and recognise education as a foundational enabler for outcomes in other sectors. Education exemplifies how the most meaningful returns can be difficult to quantify. Value should be assessed in the long term and on the ability to reduce poverty, guided by principles of equity and inclusion.
7. What is needed to achieve the Government’s objectives in terms of transforming its role to one of an investor from that of a donor?
7.1 The Government should maintain a public investment mindset for education. Education is a public good and human right, and should not be treated as a commercial commodity. Applying a market-based investor mindset can deepen inequality if profit or narrow return on investment metrics displace the goal of universal access and local priorities. Evidence shows that fee-based or profit-oriented models with high-stakes results-based financing can exclude the poorest children, girls, and those with disabilities, and ultimately weaken national education systems.[20][21]
7.2 The UK should focus on strengthening public systems and ensure that any private-sector engagement is transparent, well-regulated, and aligned with human rights law, as outlined in the Abidjan Principles.[22]