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Media releases > Send my friend to school
Children's campaign highlights the unfairness of 100 million missing school
(8 February 2005)
The children of Langdon School, who appeared on the platform with Nelson Mandela at last week’s MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY rally, will be in Westminster again today to meet a minister and begin the massive task of making a million model buddies representing some of the 100 million children worldwide who don’t go to school.
Schools all over the UK have been invited to make the buddies, as part of the 'Send My Friend To School' campaign.
The campaign, led by leading charities and teachers’ unions, plans to present a million buddies to the leaders of the world’s richest and most powerful nations, who meet for the G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland, in July.
Speakers at the launch will include Gareth Thomas MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development; Emily Kioko-Echessa, Commonwealth Education Fund, Kenya; Richard Curtis, screenwriter and MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY supporter.
Richard Curtis said:
I love the idea of children actually fighting for the rights of children their own age on the other side of the world. At the bottom of all the complex and crucial issues on aid and debt and trade justice is this simple truth - millions of children aren't going to school, and that's not fair - and if there's one thing in the world all children understand, it's fairness.
Members of Parliament, educationists and the media have been invited to the launch, which is hosted by Helen Jackson, MP for Sheffield Hillsborough.
Editors' notes- Send My Friend To School launch event:
4:00pm, Tuesday 8 February
Attlee Room, Portcullis House, Embankment,
Westminster SW1A 2LW
Fairtrade refreshments from 3:45pm
Buddy-making demonstrations for TV and photographers
View a map to the event »
- For more information and for interviews with Emily Kioko-Echessa or Langdon School, contact Tony Durham, ActionAid, +44 (0)20 7561 7614, tony.durham@actionaid.org
- Pictures of Langdon School students with Nelson Mandela are available from ActionAid picture desk, +44 (0)20 7561 7550, picdesk@actionaid.org.uk
- Preview the Send My Friend To School video, with Konnie Huq, at www.actionaid.org.uk/sendmyfriend
- The Global Campaign for Education brings together major NGOs and teachers’ unions in over 150 countries around the world. It promotes education as a basic human right, and mobilises public pressure on governments and the international community to fulfil their promises to provide free, compulsory public basic education for all people. UK member organisations include ActionAid, ATL, Comic Relief, EIS, NASUWT, NUT, Oxfam, Plan, Save the Children, Sightsavers International, SSTA, UTU and VSO. www.campaignforeducation.org
- MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY brings together a wide cross section of more than 200 UK charities, campaigns, trade unions, faith groups and celebrities who are united by a common belief that 2005 offers a unprecedented opportunity for global change. www.makepovertyhistory.org
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