A new framework may transform educational opportunities within Commonwealth countries. This is being held at the 20th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (20CCEM) in Nadi, Fiji, during the 4 consecutive days spanning Thursday 19 and Monday 23 February 2026.
When ministers meet in Fiji, they expect a new framework to transform educational opportunities in Commonwealth countries. The new resource is designed to make the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) more attainable. Our goal is by boosting school enrolments, providing safe learning environments and tackling adult literacy and gender disparity in education.
The Commonwealth Education Policy is intended to be unveiled at the 20CCEM in Fiji in mid-February. The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, said that the initiative will help governments identify gaps and challenges in their education systems. Additionally, the initiative will provide effective strategies to achieve the goals agreed upon by the international community in 2015.
Scotland asserted that we were living in a world where 121 million children aged 6 to 15 are out of school. This includes 103 million youth worldwide who lack basic literacy skills, according to UN figures.
In the entire Commonwealth, only 1/3 of children in developing countries have access to early childhood education. Almost 17 million primary school children remain out of school. This number translates to more than 400 million adults being illiterate. The stark reality that faces many of the Commonwealth member countries is that they have to locate funds to maintain and improve education services that are supported by shoestring budgets. Sometimes, this need arises only after a natural disaster has completely devastated the economy.
Scotland opined that the objective is to assist education ministries in deploying their resources and configuring their systems to achieve optimum performance. The new Commonwealth framework offers specific guidance on policies to upgrade four key aspects of education, which are governance, knowledge, capacity and advocacy. It would also drill down into areas such as finance, planning, regulation, research & development, innovation, community engagement, and professional development.
Scotland continued by expressing the expectation that the framework will form part of a comprehensive package of complementary resources. It will be proposed to ministers at the 20CCEM. Proposals will include guides on data collection, needs assessment & leadership, besides schemes to address pressing concerns. These concerns are likely to be boys’ underachievement and the impact of domestic violence on education.
Ministers would also receive the Curriculum Framework for the SDGs, which offers step-by-step guides to developing curricula with new learning and delivery approaches. It would include an online toolkit to help boost technical and vocational education and training programs.
Head of Social Policy, Layne Robinson, said that, despite significant education progress achieved in the Commonwealth, there were still huge gaps remaining in many of the member states. Robinson added that it is believed that by working together, exchanging solutions and sharing out resources, we can help in bridging those identified gaps. This is the rationale for why the education ministers’ meeting becomes so important. It will facilitate ministers, senior officials, students, teachers, higher education leaders, and civil society in having frank conversations about the shared and specific challenges that face education. The discussions would include financing and climate change, besides agreeing on a plan to tackle all issues collectively.
Robinson went on to add that they were already working closely with key partners. This includes the Commonwealth of Learning (COL). COL has had huge successes in improving girls’ education. Additionally, COL has trained 34,929 women and girls in various skills for livelihoods and assisted 6,673 girls in Bangladesh, India, Mozambique, Pakistan, and Tanzania in finding new sources of income.
Robinson asserted that the Commonwealth Secretariat will deepen its work with SOL, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, regional organisations, and other Commonwealth partners. That is to provide improved services to member states in a more coordinated manner through a type of learning alliance.
