Assembly: Send ALL My Friends to School 2014 The theme for Send My Friend to School in 2014 is disability. You’ll learn that there has been progress towards getting every child into school during the 14 years since 2000. However, despite this progress, having a disability remains one of the main barriers preventing millions of children from going to school.

How many children around the world are missing out on school? 24 million 45 million There are millions of children around the world who are missing out on school. Question 1: How many children in the world are missing out on school? 24 million 45 million 57 million. Answer = 57 million children are missing out on school. There are many reasons why so many children still don’t go to school. Frequently there aren’t enough schools, classrooms or teachers. Schools often have inadequate learning resources or basic facilities such as clean water and toilets. Teacher training can be poor and the journey to school may be too long for many children. These reasons usually result from there being too little money spent on school budgets. For families who are poor it can make more sense for children to work than attend school, and there are often school fees to pay or hidden costs for things like uniform or exam entries. Costs that can appear small are often too much for poor families to afford. Finally, in some places particular groups of children, such as girls or ethnic minorities, face specific barriers to getting an education. In some of these places and others the education system has collapsed because of war or conflict. For example many hundreds of thousands of children have missed out on school because of the civil war in Syria. Photo: Kingsbury School 57 million

How many children who are missing out on school have a disability? 4 million 11 million Why is this important? Question 3: How many of the 57 million children who don’t go to school have a disability? 4 million children 11 million children 24 million children. Answer = 24 million children. This is more than the populations of London, Glasgow, Cardiff, Birmingham. Manchester, Liverpool, and Belfast combined. Lucy lives in Kenya and has polio in her right leg. She wants to go to school so she can be independent but she can’t make the journey there. There is no transport to travel the long distance to school. So Lucy stays at home and helps with the housework. Many of the barriers that face all children, like long and difficult school journeys or a lack of water and sanitation in schools, become even more difficult for children with a disability. Children with a disability require extra resources. In Uganda is costs 7p for pencil and paper but £500 for a Braille machine to help a blind child read and write. Education budgets in many countries barely cover the costs of mainstream education never mind the costs of special needs education. The result is that disabled children miss out on school. For parents the cost of getting a child with a disability into school tend to be higher than for other children. Disabled children and even their teachers often face discrimination and prejudice from the wider society. For example in some places people believe that blindness is a contagious disease and are reluctant to mix with blind people. Photo: Arjun Kohli/Arete Stories/ActionAid 24 million

This is Tasui. He contracted polio when he was two years old and finds it difficult to walk. Tasui is now fifteen years old. He helps at home and he shoe-shines and begs in a market. This is to try and earn enough money to go back to school. Tasui had to leave school a few years ago because he wasn’t getting the support he needed and it cost too much for him to continue going. He says, he “would love to learn to read and write again. I feel bad about not being able to see my friends and that they are getting an education and I can’t. I want to go to school because I want to become a lawyer so I can help people”. Tasui shows that people with a disability can be determined and articulate campaigners for the right to education. Photo: Kate Holt/Shoot the Earth/ActionAid

Ade Adepitian was also born in Nigeria and contracted polio when he was three years old. However he came to live in the UK when he was a child and went to school in London. Ade was supported through school by special needs teachers and resources were devoted to ensure he could obtain a mainstream education just like any other child. Ade Adepitian became a Paralympic medal winner for Team GB and is now a TV presenter. Here he is talking to pupils from his old primary school, Southern Road Primary School in London He says if he had grown up in Nigeria life would have been very different. It would have been very difficult for him to have the specialist support he needed at school. Photo: Garry Crompton/Southern Road Primary School

In the year 2000 there were 114 million children out of school …. Today, the number of children out of school has halved. But, 57 million children are still missing out. Back in 2000 world leaders promised to get all children a primary education by 2015. When they said all children they mean every single child; girls, boys and children with special needs A lot has been achieved. The number of children missing an education has been cut in half. But that leaves 57 million children still without an education. And more than one in three of these children has a disability. That’s 24 million children. As countries have got more children into school, those left out of school are the children who’ll require extra help or resources to get an education. Despite the progress the hardest part of getting every child a primary education still has to be done So this year we want to remind MPs and world leaders to send ALL our friends to school. 1 in 3 of these children have a disability.

So here’s how Send ALL Our Friends to School works. First of all do some thinking, learning or research. This presentation should have got you started. Then plan the ideas or message that you want to say to your MP. Include some persuasive facts and figures. Next make a buddy. Make your buddies big so there is room to write your clear and thoughtful message. Think about how you could make your buddies stand out – for example by using colour, glitter, stickers or fabric. Photo: Camille Shah/Kingsbury High School

Next join your buddies together to make the longest possible chain Next join your buddies together to make the longest possible chain. Send your buddies to your MP by the end of the summer term. Ask your MP to give your buddies to the Prime Minister with the message that he should influence fellow world leaders to make sure ALL children go to school. Better still, invite your MP to meet you. Photo: Camille Shah/Kingsbury High School

Circles of influence So how can your MP or the Prime Minister make a difference? These circles show the influence we have, starting with our family, our school and then finally the Prime Minister. If you send your buddy chains to your MP you can ask her or him to pass them to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister can then try to persuade other world leaders to make sure all children get the chance to go to school when they meet at global meetings. This campaign is taking place in many countries around the world. When decision makers are hearing similar messages from millions of people at the same time it can have a powerful effect. So think what message would you write to persuade your MP about the importance of education for all children?

This photo shows children from Parrenthorn High School and Park View Primary School who joined together to meet their MP, Ivan Lewis. They wrote messages on their buddies and held an event to personally tell him their message about making sure all children get the chance to go to school. They asked him to raise the issue with the Prime Minister and use his influence as a then shadow minister for International Development. MPs can do many things to show their support for your campaign. For example they can ask a question in Parliament or write to the relevant government department, in this case the Department for International Development (DFID). They can also join and take part in the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global Education for All So plan how you could hold special events and activities in your school for pupils, teachers, parents and your MP. In addition you could write a press release and publicise your work in the local newspaper. (The action guide with this resource explains how to plan this) Photo: Jo-Anne Witcombe/Oxfam

Last year half a million young people from over 5,000 schools wrote messages to their MPs for ‘Every Child Needs A Teacher’ and 100 MPs met young campaigners. This group of young campaigners held a meeting with Lynne Featherstone, the DFID Minister responsible for education. This year it’s over to you… Thank you Photo: Georgie Scott/GCE Thank you 