Send My Friend launch campaign to keep young people learning
Send My Friend to School is a UK civil society coalition of international development NGOs, teachers’ unions and charities. It brings together young people, politicians, teachers, civil society and the media in joint campaigning to demand quality education for all children across the globe.
Supporting a safe return to school through, for example, risk assessments, providing better school hygiene and building additional classrooms to make social distancing possible.
Building back better so that education systems are better than they were before the pandemic and are more resilient to shocks and changes in case of future crises or emergencies. This requires greater investment and global leadership.
A quality education is critical to children’s safety, opportunities and ability to reach their potential. However, education around the world, and the hope that it brings, is facing a generation-defining emergency: COVID-19.
Every child has the right to a quality education, but the COVID-19 pandemic has obstructed this right on an unprecedented scale. To stem the pandemic, in 2020, schools closed their doors to an estimated 1.6 billion learners globally.1
School closures amid the pandemic have compounded the already dire progress on Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) - the global commitment to guaranteeing a quality education for every child. 258 million children were already out of school before COVID-19 struck, including 130 million girls, and UNESCO has predicted zero progress on reducing this number by 2030 (the deadline for SDG4).2 COVID-19 has been one of the greatest challenges of our lifetimes. However, we now have an opportunity to influence change and ensure all children receive the education that is their right. With the international G7 and COP26 conferences taking place in the UK in 2021, the UK government has the chance to be a global leader and take centre stage in driving sustainable and resilient progress towards quality education for all.
In practical terms this means:
Keeping children learning
by making home learning inclusive so that it meets the diverse needs of the poorest and most marginalised children. This is an important investment so that quality learning can still take place when schools are closed.
Supporting a safe return to school through, for example, risk assessments, providing better school hygiene and building additional classrooms to make social distancing possible.
Building back better so that education systems are better than they were before the pandemic and are more resilient to shocks and changes in case of future crises or emergencies. This requires greater investment and global leadership.
These tasks are the responsibility of the entire global community and not one country alone. However, the UK Government has the unique opportunity to set an example and lead other countries when it sets its new priorities and budgets for international aid, and meets other world leaders at the G7 and COP26 conferences taking place in the UK during 2021.
Therefore, Send My Friend to School are calling for urgent action now to ensure that all children everywhere can keep learning during and after the pandemic. Tackling the problems caused by the pandemic will also help to solve many of the other problems too.
To do this, we’re asking schools and young people to take part in the Keep All My Friends Learning campaign
– anyone can take part, whether you’re in school or at home, and the resources are free to download. There are some really interesting case studies, a fun activity and instructions on how to tell your MP about the campaign and why it’s important. All you need to do is follow this link and download your campaign pack to start making change!
1 UNESCO (2020), “Global Education Coalition”, available at: https://bit.ly/2JgPCnV (accessed: 8th Sept 2020)
2 UNESCO (2019), “Launch of the SDG4 2019 Data Digest”, available at: https://bit.ly/3mtUfcz (accessed: 8th Sept 2020)
BY HANNAH NIXON, SEND MY FRIEND TO SCHOOL CAMPAIGN MANAGER, FOR ENGAGE 2020
BY HANNAH NIXON, SEND MY FRIEND TO SCHOOL CAMPAIGN MANAGER • May 14, 2021
This week while out and about in Hertfordshire and we visited the British Schools Museum. We discovered the first school opened by Joseph Lancaster, was known as the ‘Poor Childs Friend”, was in 1810. It was his lifelong mission that all children regardless of their circumstances, should benefit from an education. Apparently, Joseph heard a small girl say, “Oh that I could read!” and this inspired him to create a simple education system that eventually would benefit children across the world. Joseph was the tenth son of a poor man himself from South London. His aim was to offer free education for everyone. However, it would be 93 years before the U.K. government finally made education free for all. There are still many countries today where education is still not free to access and it is certainly not compulsory for primary and secondary age pupils. Joseph’s mission really resonates with that of the Foundation, to support access to education for all. We enjoyed our visit and appreciated the tour given by two of the Museum’s volunteers, Angela and Clare. They described some of the challenges faced in the early years of formal education and shared some of the rules that teachers and students had to abide by with us.
Sparks Bristol is a collaborative community project initially envisioned by The Global Goals Centre, (GGC) more of which below. A few years ago, GGC took over an empty Marks and Spencer store and that’s how Sparks was born. Sparks is a department store with a difference, co-created by Global Goals Centre and Artspace Lifespace. On the ground floor is a huge range of shops, installations, events and more. Upstairs is a hub for local artists, it offers affordable studios as well as rehearsal and performance space. The Global Goals Centre is a Bristol-based educational charity inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals. (SDGs). GGC believe the SDG’s or Global Goals as they are sometimes known, can be reached, with imaginative solutions and widespread education and engagement. They work with partners to promote creative solutions and deliver ground breaking projects that work towards these ambitious goals. The Steve Sinnott Foundation supported the Global Goals Centre with seed funding when it first started over 5 years ago. This month we went to visit them to see how they are getting on and we were taken aback by the volume of work they have achieved since they started. It is amazing to see how though working together with other local community groups it has grown into the vibrant centre it is today. All of the creative projects they host are linked to the SDGs. They cover topics that tackle poverty, education, climate change, fashion recycling and upcycling, to name a few.
Spring is definitely here, daffodils, blossom and crocuses are all basking in the bright sunshine. There is still a chill in the air in the shade but it's happening and all the seeds that were sown over the last few months are coming to fruition. At the Foundation, we have been planning the year ahead and our Positive Periods and Prevention of Gender Based Violence programmes got underway this weekend in Haiti and Ghana. These projects will have a long-lasting effect on the lives of the women and girls who take part: tackling the root causes of gender-based violence and enabling girls to attend school every day when they have their period, to feel safe at school and know how to take action when they are faced with violence. These are the first of many projects planned for the year ahead as we continue to work towards Education for All children everywhere.
