Overseas education project for women and girls axed by UK after two years

An Afghan girl in a secret school. Since the Taliban takeover in 2021, girls have been barred from secondary education, but some still study in secret. Photograph: Nanna M Steffensen/Guardian View image in fullscreen An Afghan girl in a secret school. Since the Taliban takeover in 2021, girls have been barred from secondary education, but some still study in secret. Photograph: Nanna M Steffensen/Guardian Overseas education project for women and girls axed by UK after two years The programme, aimed at keeping 1m girls in school across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, withdrawn after aid cuts A leading higher education programme, aimed at keeping 1 million girls in school across Africa , Asia and the Middle East, has been axed by the British government just two years after it was announced. The scheme, Strengthening higher education for female empowerment (SHEFE), which was unveiled with some fanfare two years ago by the outgoing Conservative government, had a £45m budget to increase access to higher education for 1 million students worldwide. It has now had its tender withdrawn, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said. In May, Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, stressed her commitment to women and girls, declaring they were a priority at the FCDO and that she was “determined to work across borders to ensure women’s safety is a worldwide priority”. Bambos Charalambous, the Labour MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on global education, said he was concerned. “I’m alarmed that a flagship higher education programme designed to empower women and girls and help them achieve their potential appears to have been scrapped because of the aid cuts,” he said. “FCDO has acknowledged how such partnerships can transform lives, while also benefiting institutions here at home. It is vital to start thinking now about how to build back from the aid cuts to save similar projects.” The programme was designed in part because girls who benefit from higher education are up to six times less likely to marry as children and are less likely to experience violence from a partner. Women who have advanced levels of learning also increase their earnings. People working in the international development and education sectors claimed the move to axe SHEFE was the latest decision to severely undermine the UK’s professed commitment to women and girls. The Home Office has blocked new study visas for applicants from Afghanistan, Sudan, Myanmar and Cameroon, meaning many women whose opportunities to study in their own countries were restricted will miss out on life-changing opportunities. British universities earn large amounts of money from foreign students, who pay much higher fees than UK-born students. Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly, co-founder of the International Parliamentary Network for Education , said: “The government talks up its commitment to women and girls but at every turn it denies the world’s most marginalised girls the thing that everyone