Claudia Winkleman, Justin Tomlinson MP &
Navdeep Bual and Yasir Yeahia, Young Global Education Ambassadors.
Justin Tomlinson MP joined TV presenter Claudia Winkleman at the Houses of Parliament this week as part of the Send My Sister to School campaign, to highlight the crisis in global education, especially for girls.
In 2000 world leaders promised quality primary education for every child in the world by 2015, but with just 4 years to go there are still 67 million children missing out on even a basic, primary education. Girls are lagging behind boys in access to education; in sub-Saharan Africa more than a quarter of girls are not even attending primary school.
Around the country, thousands of schools are getting involved with the Send My Sister to School campaign to push for more action to address this crisis.
TV presenter Claudia Winkleman, is supporting the campaign. In her role as Ambassador for Comic Relief, Claudia has visited the factories of Bangladesh where girls are working long days in dark and dangerous conditions and are being denied the right to have a good education and the chance to be children.
Claudia said “Every extra year that a girl stays in school has a great impact on her future; it helps her get work, earn more, keeps her safe from HIV/AIDS and reduces the risk that her child will die in infancy. I’m supporting Send My Sister to School, to try and get every girl in the world – as well as every boy – a chance to have a good education and a better future.”
Justin Tomlinson MP said: “Access to good education helps transforms the potential opportunities for a better future. The case for investing in girls’ education is both urgent and compelling. Supported by many charities including ActionAid, Oxfam and Save the Children, the Global Campaign for Education states that a good quality education for every girl is not only a basic human right, but the fastest route out of poverty. Education is the key to protecting girls from abuse, improving their health, enhancing their skills, boosting their earning power, helping them to participate in society and will result in whole communities being lifted out of poverty."
It is estimated that an extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent and an extra year of secondary school by 15 to 25 percent.
Joseph O'Reilly, for the Global Campaign for Education said:
“Despite the clear case for investing in girls' education, the international community has failed to step up to the task. The gains that have been made in girls' enrolment in primary school have lead to a dangerous misconception that the job is almost done. This is causing untold damage to millions of girls around the world who are still being denied a good quality education. But with the UK government's support this situation can be reversed.”
The Private Under Secretary of State for International Development, Stephen O’Brien MP, also spoke at the event, presenting details of the UK Government’s response to this crisis in girls’ education.
Navdeep Bual and Yasir Yeahia, both 15 from Seven Kings High School, are this year’s Young Global Education Ambassadors. They were at the event to represent the thousands of schoolpupils who are taking part in the campaign. Yasir and Navdeep won the 2011 Steve Sinnott Award and travelled to Guatemala earlier this year with the Global Campaign for Education and the charity Toybox to investigate the barriers to education there.
The Send My Sister to School campaign aims to boost the push to get girls into school. By using girls’ stories as the basis for their activities and events, pupils in the UK will learn about the reasons why it is often the girls that are the ones who are denied their basic right to an education. Free resources are available to support teachers in getting their class or whole school involved.
If you know a school that would like to get involved free packs and more information can be found at www.sendmyfriend.org