Download the full 1GOAL 10 point manifesto (with references) here

Sofia in Tanzania

“I am Sofia from Tanzania. I am 13 years old and one of seven in my family.

I would really like to go to school one day and be like the other girls in their school uniforms. I know if I go to school, one day I will be able to help my family as I will get a good job that pays well.

I used to spend my days herding cattle and goats for my father but most of them died because of the drought. Right now my father is very sick and they have taken him to a distant hospital for treatment - I wish I could do something to help him.

These days, I help my mother selling fruits at market as well as doing my chores at home. And, when my mother gets sick, I have to go to the market alone as we need that money to buy food and other necessities.”

Education is possibly the best tool we have for tackling poverty. When someone gets educated, they will eventually earn more and be better able to support their family.

Nabirye in Uganda

“My name is Nabirye Oliver and I’m around 9 years old. I live with my four sisters and two brothers in a small village in south-east Uganda. Our house is not yet fully built – it has two small bedrooms and a small poultry house which is still waiting for the chickens to arrive.

I was born blind but every morning I get up and dressed without my mother’s help. During the day I help her with washing plates and fetching water.

When my friends are around we play skipping and hide and seek. But when they go to school I’m alone with my mother.

When I was six I went to school and learnt to count to one hundred without any mistakes, but my family did not have enough money to keep me at school.

I feel bad staying at home when all my friends go”

A third of all children out of school have a disability. Without education the cycle between disability and poverty will never be broken.

Eduardo in Angola

Eduardo, 12, from Angola, goes to school now, but for most of his life he missed out because of the war in his country.

“Most of my life I couldn’t go to school at all because of the war here in Angola. But now I’m lucky. Finally I am learning! Before we moved to this village I lived in the forest with my family. For two years we were always running and trying to escape from soldiers chasing us. One time we hid in the river to escape. We didn’t have any food, shelter, blankets, tents – nothing. Now I go to school outdoors under a tree. We study maths and Portuguese. The sun makes my eyes hurt and, when it rains, we either run home or wait under the branches for it to stop. It’s not very good when your note books get wet.

When I finish school I’d like to be a teacher or a driver. I’d love to be able to drive my parents back to their home village.”

More than half of all out of school children live in areas affected by war and conflict. Education can bring protection and stability, and the potential to start building a more peaceful and prosperous society.

Sakina in Nigeria

Twelve year old Sakina lives in the far northwest of Nigeria where in some places as few as 1 in 3 girls are enrolled in school and many more girls drop out of school due to severe poverty and cultural beliefs.

“I used to go to the primary school here in Tudun Kose but now I m too old to go there and there isn t enough money to send me to the secondary school which is far away. Also, they are preparing me to get married soon. There are a few boys who have asked my father if they can marry me but a choice hasn t been made yet. I spend my day fetching water and pounding millet to make grain for our meals. When I see the other girls going to the western school I feel happy for them and admire them. One day I followed them to school but the teacher said I was too old for school and I had to come away.”

Girls represent 60% of all children out of school. Education saves lives by giving women the confidence and power to make better choices for themselves and their children.

Raheem in India

“I’m Raheem but my boss calls me Jerry! I’m 8 and I live in Hyderabad in India. I live with my family. We have a room in an overcrowded block. Mum says I’m mischievous because sometimes I pull the chair out from under my brothers. It’s true, but I do what I’m told as well!

When I was six I had to drop out of school and work in a clothes shop instead, to help pay for the family’s food. I felt like I was missing out when I saw all the other kids going to school.

Then Mum heard about a local project that helps working children like me get back to school. You get books and uniform, and you go to classes to help you catch up with what you’ve missed. Now I’m back at school in the mornings! Now I’m not working all day I get to play cricket.

It’s hard working all afternoon and I often get tired, but I earn 5-10 rupees [about 10p] a day which helps my family. Sometimes when I have a few rupees to spare I play video games in the arcade.”

Globally, nearly 250 million children have to work to help their families. They miss out on things like school, playing sport and making friends.

Mahder in Ethiopia

“I’m Mahder. I’m 12 and I love running, playing volleyball and watching Ethiopian Pop Idol. My dad was a tailor. He died a few years ago. When he was alive I went to school and always had enough to eat. I was so sad when he died. I went to school for a month and then the money ran out and I had to stop going. When my friends went to school, I would cry all day. I didn’t do much apart from look at old school books and help mum. I felt frustrated and angry.

Mum has to work day and night just so we can survive. She has many jobs. She sorts beans at the coffee board, carries heavy bricks at the construction site and sometimes works as a cleaner. She’s often tired.

My little brother Nathaniel, who’s 6, is very sick. I help Mum look after him. It makes me upset when we clean his sores because he’s in pain. He’s too ill to go to school, so I’m teaching him to read and write. It makes me angry that not all children in Ethiopia get the chance to go to school.”

Millions of children are forced to drop out of school, often due to poverty, before they can complete even a basic education.

Tobias in Zambia

“My name is Tobias. It was my uncle who inspired me to be a teacher. Growing up I used to sit and watch him read books, and I got really interested in learning.

I’ve been teaching in Zambia for 17 years now. In this time, many things have changed for the worse. More and more children are coming to school, but teachers now get less and less support.

We’re teaching classes of 70 students. We have to mark all those books, and assess and evaluate each of the pupil’s work. It’s not easy. We are often not paid on time, sometimes waiting up to 45 days for our salary, but we still have to pay rent and keep our families. Many of my colleagues have problems, family members have died from one of the many diseases in the country. And we are looking after children at school who are orphans.”

Teacher shortages are made worse by lack of resources, and the unpredictability of aid. 18 million more primary teachers are needed by 2015 for everyone to have an education by this date.

Pedro in Guatemala

“This is me, Pedro. I live in a refugee camp called El Triunfo in Guatemala. I was born here. Until a few years ago people were fighting a very long, very bloody war in my country. At that time, life where my parents used to live was very dangerous and my parents had to leave their village and come here to the camp to find safety. They tell me that after they left the village, their house, the school and the whole village were destroyed.

Although the camp is not like a village, we are doing our best to make it a good place to live in. In the mornings, I help my mother to make the tortilla and then go with my father to look after the animals. The best thing is that in the afternoons I go to school. For a long time there was no school here, but now I go every day. This is very important to me because I want to be a doctor when I grow up, so that I can look after people where we live.”

Pedro is just one of around 25 million children currently uprooted from their homes.

Barun in Bangladesh

Barun is 8 years old and is in his third year of primary school in Khagrachari district, Bangladesh. He is from the Tripura indigenous community whose language is Kokborok. From the beginning of his schooling, Barun did not understand the lessons and books because he did not speak or understand the language of instruction, Bengali. He had only spoken Kokborok at home, and had no previous exposure to the national language of Bengali. His teacher could not speak to him in his language or understand him either.

After three years of schooling, Barun still does not understand or speak Bengali well.

If Barun doesn’t understand the teacher, he says he doesn’t know the answer. This often leads to the teacher punishing him by pulling his ear. Barun says, “I will go to school regularly and enjoy my classes in school if the teacher teaches me in Kokborok”.

Half of the world's out of school children live in communities where the language used in school is different to that used at home. This is an enormous barrier which affects learning.



Millions of others are also missing out on an education