Ministers of Education from across Africa, UK Parliamentarians, and global education leaders convened at a High-level Roundtable on Foundational Learning, held alongside the Education World Forum.
The event, hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global Education, the International Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd) and Results UK with support from the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and Human Capital Africa (HCA), showcased tangible progress across eight African countries and explored how to sustain momentum amid shrinking development assistance budgets.
With an estimated 90% of 10-year-olds in African countries unable to read a simple sentence or do basic mathematics, the discussion highlighted the scale of the issue, but also the solutions.
Improving outcomes in foundational learning is not only possible, it has been happening, thanks to country-led innovations and strategic international partnerships.
A Shared Agenda for Improving Learning Outcomes
The roundtable was grounded in a shared sense of urgency around solving the issue of children going to school but not learning the basics.
Baroness Blower, Vice-Chair of the APPG on Global Education, who served as the chair of the event: “Foundational skills… are the building blocks of reaping the full benefits of education. These figures are not just numbers and percentages. They represent lost opportunity, stalled progress, and unjust barriers to the next generation.”
The discussion highlighted several successful initiatives already transforming educational outcomes across Africa, including many with UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) support.
These partnerships have demonstrated that targeted interventions in foundational learning can yield substantial economic and social returns.
Ministers from Ghana, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Uganda shared how targeted investments—particularly in early years teaching, local language instruction, and structured pedagogy—are delivering measurable results.
- Zambia’s Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach is helping ensure no child is left behind by adapting lessons to learners’ actual abilities.
- Sierra Leone’s Free Quality School Education Programme has raised pass rates across all national exams.
- Ghana’s use of data and mother-tongue instruction is enabling more equitable outcomes between urban and rural areas.
- Malawi’s new Government-Philanthropy-Development (GPD) model seeks to unlock blended funding through stronger accountability and co-financing commitments.
- Zimbabwe’s Early Learning Policy (ZELP) and Early Learning Assessment (ZELA) are producing insights for addressing disparities in learning outcomes, teacher training, and resource allocation.
The Economic Case for Investing in Foundational Learning
New research from the What Works Hub for Global Education demonstrates the profound economic consequences of not investing in education—and the tremendous opportunity presented by addressing it.
Dr. Ben Piper, Director of Global Education at the Gates Foundation, stressed the cost-effectiveness of investments in foundational learning, showing that programmes focused on early learning deliver:
- 3x the impact;
- 10x the reach;
- At 1,000th of the cost of standard interventions in high-income countries
“This is an unsolved problem that has a solution. There’s so much work in health to make sure that [children] survive past birth, past some of the early challenges, but we also want them to thrive. Its through programmes on foundational learning and efforts of partners in the room that we do that.”
Judith Herbertson, Head of Girls’ Education at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, emphasised findings from the UK co-funded What Works Hub: “Evidence of the return from foundational learning continues to grow.. Children with better foundational learning outcomes are 63% less likely to drop out between the ages of 12 and 15. Women with these basic literacy skills later in life are up to 67% less likely to lose one of their children before the age of five. And an increase of one standard deviation in student test scores is linked to a 2% increase in a country’s GDP and a 5% point reduction in youth unemployment.”
Multiple Ministers highlighted the robust economic justification for investing heavily in education:
Hon. Siviwe Gwarube, Minister of Basic Education for South Africa: The key to unlocking the so-called ‘demographic dividend’ lies in education. Our youth population is not going to automatically be an economic asset. It becomes one when the youth are healthy, when they are skilled and when they are meaningfully engaged in the economy and society. That transformation we believe, begins in our classrooms and literacy and numeracy are the foundation upon which all future learning is built.
Hon. Douglas Munsaka Syakalima, Minister of Education for Zambia: “Our President is a Champion of Foundational Learning… As he says, the best economic policy is education—the second is education, and the hundredth is education.”
The UK’s Support for Foundational Learning
The UK has been a long-standing champion for education, and has put foundational learning at the heart of its agenda. It is the only remaining government donor in the Coalition for Foundational Learning, and one of the few donors that focuses on basic education.
Ruth Kagia, former Kenyan Minister and current High-Level Envoy and Adviser for the Global Partnership for Education, underscored the critical role the UK has historically played: “When leadership comes from countries themselves, it’s easier for partners to rally around them. The UK has been a leader in this space, not just with ideas but with the funding to back them. We hope that leadership doesn’t disappear.”
Halil Dundar, Global Practice Manager at the World Bank, also noted the importance of UK expertise: “FCDO’s support, especially in technical engagement, has been vital for delivering results at the country level. In places like Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia, we’ve been able to co-create large-scale education programmes with impact—thanks in part to UK support.”
A Call for Continued UK Engagement
The roundtable took place amidst growing concern over further reductions to UK Official Development Assistance (ODA), and recent indications that education may be deprioritised.
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu MP, Minister of Education for Ghana: “We are concerned about the dwindling support and resources of the Western world, including the United States and the British government. That will be a vacuum.”
Hon. Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima MP, Minister of Education for Malawi, emphasised that this loss of support was happening at a critical time: “It is as if all the partners have withdrawn support at a time when we are building momentum and scaling up what works. We really feel like we are going in the right direction…The timing is not good at all, neither is the global economic outlook. Nonetheless, foundational learning must not only survive, but thrive in this space, because strengthening the human capital foundation for the prosperity of our nation and the world is mandatory.”
While several countries emphasised resolve to increase their own resources for foundational learning, it was clear that the loss of funding from the UK would be a significant blow.
Hon. Douglas Munsaka Syakalima MP, Minister of Education for Zambia: “This is a wake-up call for us to fill the void. However, there is no question that there will still be gaps in foundational learning outcomes across the world, and that must be justification for the UK to reconsider this decision [to cut ODA] and invest and prioritise education.”
Lord Jeremy Purvis, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs in the House of Lords, asked Ministers for advice on how he should make the case to the UK Government to reconsider.
Participants offered compelling arguments for why the UK should remain invested in foundational learning:
- Funding for education is an investment, not aid. Education has immense growth potential for the whole globe. Foundational skills are not an Africa problem, but a world problem;
- The immense number of youth in Africa will be a resource for the UK, and the UK stands to gain from a skilled African workforce;
- Education is essential for development – where would Europe be without investment in education? The UK cannot support developing countries to grow socio-economically without investing in education.
Several participants in the discussion emphasised an urgent need for the UK to reassess its plans to deprioritise education.
For Sierra Leone, a country which invests 20% of its public budget in education, the money it spends is still not enough to ensure quality foundational learning for all. Hon. Conrad Sackey, Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education for Sierra Leone: “We are trying to reduce our reliance on external aid, which is why we’ve committed this amount of funding. But we have 1 million additional pupils in our system [due to expanding access]… We also are coping with climate change. So we cannot yet wean ourselves completely off external funding, but we are showing bold and great steps to make sure that we contribute to our development.”
In closing remarks, Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly, Director of the International Parliamentary Network for Education, reflected on the costs the UK’s backtracking will have and shared disappointment in the UK’s decision to turn its back on an issue it has long placed at the centre of its development agenda: “There is no healthy society, there is no democratic society, there is no economic growth if our citizens can’t read and write and numerate.” He continued, “At a time when the UK has invited all of you here to the Education World Forum, we aren’t able to front up and deliver with the support that’s necessary….I speak on behalf of MPs who are in the UK Parliament and urging the government to reconsider as well.”
Five Priorities for Accelerated Progress
The dialogue identified urgent priorities to accelerate foundational learning:
- Secure sustainable, domestic and external funding
- Invest in teacher training and local language pedagogy
- Scale proven, cost-effective interventions
- Strengthen data systems and accountability
- Deepen continental and global partnerships aligned with national priorities
The roundtable underscored the need for the UK to continue its role as a champion for foundational learning, with partnerships grounded in equity, respect for local ownership, and support for country-led accountability frameworks.