Wednesday, 13 September 2006

Rewrite the future

The education of children caught up in areas of conflict is often severely disrupted. Schooling can be interrupted by periods of intense fighting, by damage to buildings and equipment, and even by the forcible recruitment of children. 

Save the Children claims that 43 million children are denied schooling because of conflict.  This not only damages the life chances of the individuals, but also makes the development of democratic practices within countries even less likely in the future.

The Rewrite the Future campaign involves young people themselves, by giving them information and encouraging them to lobby for access to education for their peers across the world.

One of the launch events was held in Coombe Girls School, where I was invited to take part in a role play activity with some Year 9 students. The event culminated in them writing 'blackboards' - messages that will be presented to the Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn MP.

The soldiers will never leeve me alone - the misspelling is deliberate, because conflict reduces the chance of an education.

At the end I reminded them that there are children in Kingston who have first hand experience of this. They have come as refugees from war-torn countries and are now settled into our schools, gaining the education that they have a right to and that we take for granted.

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