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| What happened in 2005? Young people were listened to and presented their 'friends' at the highest political levels… Mali: Three Presidents come together in Mali to sign pledges on 'friends' The President of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, all signed pledges on April 25 in Mali. The three Presidents took time out from a meeting in the Gao region of Mali to sign the pledges on 'friends'. The President of the Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaoré, signed a message reading: "To promote female literacy is to fight against infant mortality and AIDS". While the President of the Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, signed a message that read: "Send my friend to school in order to eradicate child labour" and finally the President of the Niger, Mamadou Tandia, signed a 'friend' carrying the message: "The future of a nation is in the schooling of girls". View the pictures Mozambique: the President and the first lady presented with 'friends' In Manica, in Mozambique, children presented 'friends' to the President of Mozambique, the First Lady, and the Ministry of Education and other government members. Earlier, the Global Action Week had been launched in a secondary school when a number of politicians went 'back to school', in an event involving a total of 2000 people. Niger: Prime Minister to be presented with 'friends' On April 29th, 'friends' collected from across Niger were presented by children to the Prime Minister, Hama Amadou. Throughout the week, there was also high profile politicians going back to school across Niger. View the pictures Peru: Children to make a presentation of their demands to Congress In Peru, out-of-school children carried out a presentation in front of the Congress. This will culminate in the presentation of their 'friends' to the President of the Republic, Pres Alejandro Toledo. All the 'friends' collected for this event will be later displayed outside the Congress buildings. Throughout the Global Action Week, across the 24 regions within the country, local and regional politicians are also invited to go 'back to school'. View the pictures Netherlands: 750 school children are expected to present digital 'friends' to the Minister of Development. Primary school children made digital 'friends' across the Netherlands and on April 27, thousands of these digital 'friends' were presented to Mrs. Agnes van Ardenne, the Minister for Development Co-operation during an event outside the parliament buildings involving 750 schoolchildren. Burkina Faso: Children to march with their 'friends' to present them to the Prime Minister In Burkina Faso, a march with children was organised to give "friends" to the Prime Minister. In the 44 other provinces the "friends" will be given to the High Commissioners. Ghana - the President and Vice President to meet with 'friends' In Ghana the Action Week was kick-started with a national launch by the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana. The event took place in a deprived fishing area, where many children are out-of-school, and will be followed by a visit to local schools. The week culminated on April 29 when a delegation of children and their 'friends' met the President - this will be mirrored by regional events with 'friends' being delivered to Regional Ministers. Ethiopia - Students to march on Parliament with their 'friends' In Ethiopia, a march with students brandishing their 'friends, descended on the Parliament Building. This was followed by a meeting with the President. Simultaneous marches took place in regional capitals. Germany - Vice-President met with 'friends' Around 100 young people met with the Vice President of the German national parliament, Dr. Susanne Kastner and presented her with their cut-out 'friends' Mrs. Kastner opened a discussion with the pupils, after which a question and answer session ensued with the children. The Vice President promised to take the cut-out 'friends' and to show them to her colleagues in parliament to remind of their education commitments. View pictures Democratic Republic of Congo - Vice President launches Action Week and President of the Assembly listens to children's views The Vice President of DRC launched the Global Action Week on April 25, when he met with the campaign organisers to discuss the campaign and state of education in DRC. A massive national event took place on April 26, where 750 children presented their views in front of the President of the Republic, and the National Assembly. Throughout the week politicians have been going 'Back to School'. The Minister of Primary, Secondary and Professional Teaching, the Minster of Women and Family, as well as the Minster of Youth and Sports have all gone 'back to school' - as well as many more local politicians. View Pictures Senegal - Artists, children and local politicians join together to deliver their message to the President of the Republic On April 29, hundreds of children joined with local politicians to give a message to the President of the Republic. Senegalese artists, including Youssou Ndour and Baba Maal ambassadors for UNICEF and UNDP, respectively, launched messages during the national demonstration. Gambia -Minister of Education expected to make a pledge during a national event. The Action Week started in the Gambia with Prayers in all Mosques and Churches across the country. Throughout the week regional pledge events took place. During the events children presented their 'friends' to politicians and asked them to sign a pledge - in Gambia children have been making unique puppet 'friends', using brooms and other materials. The week ended with a National Pledge Event, during which the Minister of Education is expected to sign a pledge and send the information to the head of state. Malawi - Deputy Minister presented with messages from young people. The Deputy Minister of Education was presented Send my Friend to School messages by school going children. The children requested the Deputy Minister of education to present the messages to the President. School children have been writing messages about their 'friends', in an act of solidarity with all children missing out on education. The messages, with the names of children were displayed on walls and trees where everyone had a chance to read them. A march with the children involved in the national event was also held on the same day. View pictures Nigeria - Activities kicked off in Nigeria with the Minister for Education receiving 'friends' from children and addressing the press. The Minister of Education started the Action Week in Nigeria by addressing the press on the Nigerian Governments' road map to achieving EFA and the MDGs - the press conference was held as a result of successful lobbying by civil society for increased transparency by the Government in its plans to eliminate poverty and achieve the MDGs. On April 25, over 500 children sent their 'friends' to the Minister of Education, Minister of Finance and Minister of Women's Affairs and Youth Development. This was mirrored by similar events across the regions of Nigeria. Bangladesh - Meet the 'Law-Makers' event sees children questioning key political figures On April 26, children had a question-answer session with law makers of the Bangladeshi National Parliament. The session started with a meeting with the Chief Whip of the Parliament in his office premises in the Parliament. The State Minister of Law and Justice chaired the session, with the Chief Whip of Opposition party of the parliament, the General Secretary of all parties Parliamentarian Caucus on Education also took part in the session. View Pictures …and politicians listened and responded by signing commitments and pledges Ireland - Development Minister signs pledge to increase aid to education The Irish Development Minister signed a pledge to ensure that the Irish government meets its commitment to increase Overseas Development Aid to 0.7% of GNP, in line with UN recommendations, and to increase it's spending on education accordingly. The pledge was a result of months of lobbying by the Irish GCE coalition. Irish school children have been making cut-out 'friends' since November 2004. The Irish cut-out 'friends' are all being collected during the Action Week to be shipped to the G8 Summit as part of the million 'friends' event. Meanwhile, local politicians have been going 'back to school' through out the Action Week. View the pictures Pakistan - March by 4,000 children and teachers is followed by an address from the Education Minister On April 28, 4,000 schoolchildren and their teachers participated in a march to the parliament. They were also joined by the Minister of Education and Minister of State for Education, with an address from the Education Minister given at the end of the event, where he pledged the governments commitment to education. Meanwhile, across regions throughout Pakistan, children have been busy making cut-out 'friends' and inviting politicians 'Back to School'. View the pictures Cambodia - Pledge event sees Deputy Minister re-affirm the governments' commitment to education During a national pledge event on April 26, 3000 children and young people, flanked by their cut-out 'friends', demanded that the Government take immediate actions to enable their 'friends' as well as other children could go to school. Both the Deputy Prime Minister, H.E. Sok, and Minister of Education responded to the children's pleas by pledging to reduce poverty and push forward with increased commitment and urgency in their education plan. The event was also attended by; the Coordinator for Education For All, Minister of Information, Municipality Governor, Secretary of State, NGOs, ambassadors, donors and other senior Government officials. View the pictures India - Children "Knock the Doors" Parliamentarians to ask them to sign pledges April 27 - 28 saw parliamentarians across Delhi, India, woken by groups of children demanding that they take action on education. More than 200 legislative members and leaders of various political parties, were awakened with a knock on their doors early in the morning by over 100 children. The children reminded politicians about the pledges made on education by the Government of India and asked them to sign a pledge to take action on education. View the pictures Sierra Leone: 30,000 children march with 'friends' to the national stadium On the April 27, a national pledge event took place, coinciding with the country's independence celebrations. 30,000 children marched to the national stadium holding cut-out 'friends'. At the stadium, statements were given by a number of people, including the Minister of Education. The Global Action Week was officially launched in Sierra Leone on April 24 2005 during which the Minister of Education, Dr. Alpha Wurie, reported that the Government of Sierra Leone is prepared to open the doors of every single school, for every child of school going age to be given an opportunity to access education and to grapple with the problem of quality of education. Uruguay - The Mayor of Montevideo signs pledge to join the campaign On April 21 the Mayor of Montevideo, Mr. Adolfo Pérez Piera, signed a pledge confirming his full support for the campaign. Children from local school and members of a literacy group had the opportunity to read the stories depicted in the "cut-out friends" they had made. On the same day, the President of the Chamber of Representatives, Nora Castro, received an even larger delegation, composed of several students from a school in Montevideo, representatives of an afro-descendants' NGO, from the National Follow-up Commission and the Network of Rural Women, as well as representatives from the provinces of Colonia, Maldonado and San José. View the pictures Cameroon: Prime Minister kick-started the Action Week with a pledge to educate to end poverty Action Week got off to an exciting start in Cameroon by an opening ceremony, during which the Prime Minister will make a pledge to reduce poverty through universal access to education. Burkina Faso - March with 'friends' to Parliament to hand over declaration to Prime Minister In Burkina Faso, a march by children was followed by the presentation of a statement on education to the Prime Minister on April 30. Government and education authorities were also brought together in 44 provinces to attend similar events. Canada - Breakfast meeting with 'friends' and Canadian MP "Friends" will be collected and presented to government and public officials during breakfast with Members of Parliament of the Canadian Government. Later, one 'friend' from each region will be selected to be sent for the G8 events as the 'virtual' Canadian delegation. View the pictures …. While in some countries Politicians went Back to School Brazil: The Finance Minister is invited 'back to school' On April 28th, a special lesson will be given to the Treasury Department, in Brazil. The main "students" will be the Finance Minister Antonio Palocci and leaders of the parties in the National Congress. After the lesson they will each be presented with 'friends'. The Brazilian coalition is hopeful that this will lead to a fresh commitment to increase spending on education in Brazil. Spain: female politicians are going 'back to school' In Spain on 27th April, three female politicians, from the three main political parties in Spain will be going 'back to school' together and for one day only putting aside their political differences for a lesson on girls' education. The three politicians are also representing the three levels of political engagement - from national, regional through to local. One of these 'pupils' will be the Education Minister, María Jesús Sansegundo Jamaica - MPs have gone 'back to school' across Jamaica On April 29, MPs across Jamaica were invited 'Back to School' in all constituencies of Jamaica. On the same day, a televised debate by young people on education also took place, which will be broadcast live by Television Jamaica. … and in other countries 'friends' were made, marches held and colorful rallies occurred Poland - Minister of Education signs pledges on access to education issues. This was the first year that the Polish Teachers' Union (ZNP) has taken part in the GCE Global Action Week and with great success. Twenty five institutions took part in total across the country (schools and kindergartens) and 1000 pupils were involved in the making of the 500 cut out 'friends'. The institutions organized lessons for the pupils and invited the representatives of the local authorities and politicians to sit in on these. Some of those institutions prepared their own lessons plans and meetings with public figures. One group of children presented 'friends' to the Minister for Sport and Education and were successful in their bid to get him to sign pledges on improving access to education in Poland. View the pictures Vietnam - 600 out-of-school children ask representatives of the Ministry of Education to Send ME to School On Saturday April 23, in Hanoi, over 600 children, including street and working children and children with disabilities participated in a large event at the Children's Palace. The out-of-school children asked those present to "send me to school. Representatives from the Ministry of Education and Training and Ministry of Justice were present. Later in the day, 600 street- or working-children with cut-out 'friends' took part in a demonstration in Hanoi. View the pictures Greece: 44,000 pupils from Greek schools asked their Ministers to send their friends to school "Friends" collected from across Greece, totaling an amazing 44,000, were delivered to the Greek Minister of Education on the April 20. A delegation of about 260 pupils gathered in Athens, where they met the Greek Minister of Education and handed over their 'friends' and all the 'friends' collected from across Greece. Another smaller delegation has also met the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. View the pictures Nepal: 30,000 'friends' made across Nepal Despite massive political upheaval that inhibited many of the plans in Nepal, the Nepalese groups managed to make massive numbers of cut-out 'friends', with estimates of 30,000 'friends' made within Nepal. Meanwhile the campaign coincided with the enrolment period in Nepal and through a concerted 'enrolment campaign', thousands of additional pupils are thought to have enrolled as a result of the public mobilisation in Nepal during action week. View the pictures Denmark - Development Minister to open exhibition of 'friends' Nearly 20,000 'friends' have been made in Denmark - they will be displayed alongside a special 'friend' exhibition by the world famous artist, Olafur Eliasson. The exhibition will open at the April 26, by the Danish Minister for Development. Children have also been busy learning about education around the world in schools across the country, an amazing 1 in every 7 Danish pupils have participated. As part of their lessons they were read the 'Reading Rocket', which is collection of short stories, donated by famous Danish writers. View the pictures Egypt - Egyptian children have made 10,000 'friends' On Sunday the 8 th of May, Egyptian children from 430 girl-friendly schools around the country, displayed 10,000 "friends" whom they wanted to send to school. They encouraged "Education for All" especially for girls in order to decrease the educational gender gap. This was organized by the National Council for Childhood & Motherhood, led by the Secretary General, Ambassador Moushira Khattab (wearing a blue suit in the pictures) The children narrated the stories of their out-of-school "friends" and asked for more schools to be built to give their "friends" an equal opportunity to an education. The cut-out friends were signed by various officials from different governorates but were mainly supported by Ambassador Moushira Khattab, Secretary General of the National Council for Childhood & Motherhood, the Deputy Minister of Education, Dr. Amin Abou Bakr and the Governor of Giza governorate, Dr. Fathy Saad. The following governorates within Egypt supported this event: Giza, Beheira, Fayoum, Beni Souif, Minya, Assyut & Sohag. In Sohag governorate, the government gave the National Council for Childhood & Motherhood the consent for 5 new locations to build girl-friendly schools and the Ministry of Education donated musical instruments to the school. In Minya governorate, the governorate rewarded the school teachers, students and keeper with a financial contribution for their efforts. In Beni Souif governorate, support will be granted to the Non Governmental Organizations (NGO's) to help train the teachers and supervisors of the girl-friendly schools as well as renovate the schools. Apache Corporation, which had already donated the building cost of 7 girl-friendly schools, has offered to build 200 more girl-friendly schools across the country. In addition, a volunteer group will commence teaching English to the teachers of the girl-friendly schools. View the pictures Chile - Performance in capital with 'friends'. April 29 saw a public performance, with cut-out 'friends', collected from different parts of Chile, in Santiago, the capital of Chile. Hundreds of young people participated together with politicians and education authorities. Similar activities were carried out at the same time in other cities to help build public awareness of the state and quality of education in Chile. View the pictures Japan: Japanese students get ready to send their 'friends' to the G8 Summit Japanese students will be submitting their 'friends' for an exhibition of the best from around the country - later they will be sending the winners to be included in the million 'friends' delegates at the G8 Summit. View the pictures Norway: Roma-gypsies, children and their 'friends" take part in event outside the Norwegian parliament On April 27, the president of Union of Education Norway and a parliamentarian gathered outside the Norwegian parliament buildings, during which a gypsy group highlighted the Norwegian challenge in education. Meanwhile children brought their 'friends' " to remind those assembled of their commitments to education. India - Run with 'friends', followed by MPs going 'back to school' In India the coalition is planning the first ever 'protest marathon' which will kcik-off simultaneously across the country at 11.30am on April 24, 3000 children - both school going and non-school going - will be taking part. Later in the week, on April 27 & 28, MPs will be going 'back to school'. View the pictures UNESCO Headquarters Paris - 24 artists exhibit their 'friends' for Action Week. Twenty-four artists, from diverse origins, have participated in a Send my Friend to School exhibition, making 'friends' and decorating them with education slogans. The exhibition opened at UNESCO headquarters on 25 April. UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura inaugurated the exhibition, in the presence of Senegalese artist Ousmane Sow , patron of the exhibition. View the pictures Haiti - Groups question political parties stand on education during the election period. Children excluded from education and academics have been using the election period in Haiti to question the leaders of political parties on their election pledges for education - ensuring that education has become a clear electoral issue. |
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