Every Child Needs A Teacher For ages 5-7

Why do we go to school? To play To learn To make friends Ask for ideas of why we go to school and why is it important – to have fun, to learn, to play, to make friends… Photo: Chris Morgan/GCE/ActionAid

Around the world, how many children don’t go to school? 10 million 60 million 80 million Around the world, there are 60 million children out of school. [Click for picture] Imagine Wembley stadium full of people, that’s nearly 100,000 people, so 10 Wembley stadiums would hold 1 million people. It would take 6000 Wembley stadiums to hold 60 million children! Most of the children around the world who are missing out on school live in Africa. In Nigeria, 10 million children don’t go to school, that’s one sixth of the total.

Nigeria is a country in Africa. Where is Nigeria? Find Africa on a globe or atlas. [Click for map of Nigeria] Nigeria is a country in Africa. The capital city is Abuja. Find it on the map. Did you know that the weather is hot and sunny most of the year? There is also a wet season when it rains nearly every day!

Fatima’s story Meet Fatima who is 10 years old. She lives in Nigeria with her brother and her parents. Find out more about Fatima’s day. [Hand out Fatima’s story to a reader to share with the class.] Compare your day to Fatima’s day, what is the same and what is different? What do you think Fatima feels like not going to school? Photo: Akinkugbe Okikiola/ActionAid

Why doesn’t Fatima go to school? Fatima’s family doesn’t have enough money to pay for her school uniform, books or pens or pencils. She has to help her mother look after the house by cleaning or sweeping the ground. She also sells onions in the market to help make money. But Fatima’s mother wants her to go to school, she says, “I would like Fatima and her brother to go to school, [because] I think their future life will be better.” Photo: Akinkugbe Okikiola/ActionAid

What is school like? What do you think it would be like to learn in this class? How many children are there in your class? In this school, there are 46 children in one class, but because there are not enough classrooms, two classes are taught together which means over 90 children in a class with one teacher. In some schools, there are not enough teachers so there can be as many as 150 children in one class. Photo: Chris Morgan/GCE/ActionAid Extra: In Nigeria, there are 600,000 primary teachers, but 200,000 more are needed. In fact the number of teachers in Nigeria went down between 2005 and 2010. Around the world, there is a shortage of 1.7 million teachers. Nigeria doesn’t have enough primary school teachers. There are 600,000 primary school teachers, but there needs to be 200,000 more.

Every child needs a teacher and you can help! This year, help us to remind world leaders that every child needs a teacher. Join millions of other people around the world to remind world leaders of the promise they made that every children will have an education by 2015.

Design your ideal teacher Help us remind world leaders of the great work that teachers do around the world. Cut out this teacher figure and make your own ideal teacher. Think of words to describe him or her Use the A4 template Or you can make a teacher puppet You can even go life-sized and draw round your own teacher!

Does your ideal teacher have a giant brain, a big heart, eyes in the back of their head, or the flexibility of an Olympic athlete? What things do you think make a good teacher? Ask for ideas on what a teacher does to make lessons interesting and fun. What skills and qualities should they have? [Click for ideas bubble to appear]

Why do you think these children made this shape in their playground? You don’t just have to draw or write, Stag Lane Junior School made this playground 'sister' to show the importance of girls' education for Send My Sister to School. Send your drawings or puppets to your local MPs and ask her or him to pass them to the Prime Minister, or have a party at your school and invite people to come to it. The Prime Minister can try to persuade world leaders to spend more money on education. Help us to remind world leaders that every child needs a teacher! Photo: Stag Lane Junior School, Harrow

Remember every child needs a teacher. www.sendmyfriend.org