11 March 2013: Commonwealth Day

The second Monday in March is Commonwealth Day, a celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations and a brief reminder of why it’s one of the nicest intergovernmental clubs to belong to. Opportunity through Enterprise is the Commonwealth theme for 2013, an apt choice given the ongoing financial turmoil in wealthy nations and the continuing rise of less-wealthy ones.

Commonwealth nations adopt a broad framework of similar values and goals, which cover the promotion of democracy, free trade, human rights, rule of law and world peace.

There are several institutions within the Commonwealth Family to assist with these, including the Commonwealth Business Council, Commonwealth of Learning and Association of Commonwealth Universities. The most high-profile Commonwealth activity is of course the Commonwealth Games. As for science, the Commonwealth doesn’t have a specific mandate on it – the Commonwealth Science Council was discontinued a few years back.

One of the many ways that the UK is helping to foster opportunity and enterprise around the Commonwealth is by supporting educational programmes.

The lack of primary education, particularly for women and girls, is one of the most significant barriers to opportunity in poorer countries. At higher levels of education, many countries produce excellent scientists and engineers but lack the world-class infrastructure to fully develop their potential.

Through the Department for International Development, the UK aims to train 190,000 teachers, support over 9 million children in primary school and support 2 million in lower secondary school by 2015. DfID also administers the Commonwealth Scholarships for tertiary education, opening some of the world’s top universities to our partner nations.

The case for good primary, secondary and tertiary education leading to increased prosperity does not need to be stated, so I’ll simply state that Canada and the UK look forward to working more closely on scientific collaboration with our friends in the Commonwealth.