Written question asked by Marsha De Cordova (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 February 2023, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 9 February 2023. It was answered by Andrew Mitchell (Conservative) on Wednesday, 15 February 2023 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Developing Countries: Literacy

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to tackle learning poverty in middle-income countries.

Answer: The FCDO has used its influence to garner global support for tackling learning poverty. In 2022, we co-published the State of Learning Poverty Update with coalition on learning partners and launched the Commitment to Action on foundational learning to reduce learning poverty by 50 percent by 2030. We run basic education programmes in middle-income countries including Bangladesh, Jordan and Nigeria to address learning poverty. We have invested in leading education research including the What Works Hub for education, which supports learning between middle-income countries such as Brazil, Pakistan and Kenya to understand what works to reduce learning poverty.

Secondary information