Commonwealth Africa now reflects the diversity of Africa as a whole. Former Francophonic and Lusophonic colonies are now members alongside the Anglophonic ones. Within these countries are thousands of languages and cultures. But all cohere in a drive for education and an urge to make free choices. These converge.

According to the 2018 World Development Report (WDR), many lower-income countries have made progress in getting children into the classroom, which has led to more children worldwide now being in school.

Britain is blessed to have a world-leading higher education sector. Our universities are a great source of strength for the country and their role – in an increasingly knowledge-based economy – is becoming more and more central to our future prosperity. Universities are also becoming increasingly central to our future social prospects.

Rt. Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG QC was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1974 until 1997. In 1979, he was appointed a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, at first in the Scottish Office and then in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, promoted to Minister of State in 1983.

The CEC Annual Conference 2021 will showcase innovative approaches developed by teachers and educational professionals, in the face of the pandemic, to deliver education to young people, wherever they might be located.

In advance of the Global Education Summit 2021, co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and the United Kingdom, Commonwealth Partners for Education* launched a virtual roundtable as an official side-event, which is also available on the GE Summit portal.

The closure of schools, universities and educational programmes in the wake of the COVID pandemic has led to a disruption in learning of a magnitude never experienced in recent history.