• Annan, Bellamy join line-up of all-star teachers. Numbers keep rising as faxes pour in (April 15, 2003)
  
• We did it! Over 1 million people join the Big Lesson (April 10, 2003)
• 750,000 set to break world record today (April 9, 2003)
  
• Numbers rising; Message from Kofi Annan (April 8, 2003)
  
• GO! ...Girls' education: every country can be a success story, says GCE study (April 6, 2003)
  
• Get set... Big Lesson total hits 248,000 worldwide (April 4, 2003)
  
• On your marks...100 countries gear up for Action Week (April 3, 2003)
  

The 2003 Action Week ended on 13 April but the excitement is far from over as individual teachers and major NGOs around the world continue to email and fax us to report their achievements and experiences. The GCE's count now stands at 1,435,556 participants. Can you help us to make it 1,500,000?

Within a few days we will share information on how the GCE plans to follow up on this unprecedented worldwide show of support for girls' education - and how you can be involved.

Unicef's Ziad Sheik writes: 'The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, welcomed some 350 school children from the New York City area to UN Headquarters on 9 April, in a special event organized by UNICEF and the US Fund for UNICEF as part of the Global Week of Action for Girls' Education. UNICEF's Executive Director Carol Bellamy , striding up and down the aisles with microphone in hand, moving from eager student to eager student, transformed a packed, formal UN conference room into a buzz of challenging questions and answers about the facts of girls' education in countries around the world.

'In his welcome to the house of the people, the Secretary-General reinforced the main message of the day: that to ensure health, peace and equality, the classrooms of the world have to be full of girls as well as boys. His remarks were expanded throughout the morning by a team of teachers including Mrs. Nane Annan who spoke about her personal experiences meeting young girls from around the world and appealed to the children to stay involved with the issues of children's rights and girls' education, UNICEF Special Representative Angelique Kidjo who officially led the lesson part of the morning, and Carol Bellamy who returned to the stage at the end to lead the group in a pledge of Go, Girls !!! Education for every child.

'Somewhat cautiously at first, but quickly picking up their confidence, the students expressed their opinions on a range of issues including the nature of human rights, the importance of a good education, and why girls are sometimes treated differently to boys. Many of their questions focussed on what can be done to get more girls into school.

'The day was part of UNICEF's broader initiative to get as many girls as boys into school in 25 priority countries around the world by 2005: the "25 by 2005 Girls' Education Campaign" (www.unicef.org/noteworthy/girlseducation/index.html).

At UNESCO in Paris the Largest Lesson was opened by Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura. The "teachers" - John Daniel, Assistant Director-General for Education, and Aicha Bah Diallo, Deputy Assistant Director-General for Education - taught to a roomful of "children" made up of UNESCO Executive Board members, Permanent Delegations, NGOs and UNESCO staff (282 in all). The "class" played the game, interacting well with their teachers and giving their views on why educating girls was important and on the factors that keep girls out of school, etc. But, as in the best of classrooms, this one too had its "drop-outs" -- colleagues who had to leave early to prepare the afternoon session of the Board

In his remarks, the Director-General dedicated the Largest Lesson to "the millions of children around the world, a majority of them girls, who have no opportunity to have any lessons at all".

Romania expected 10,000 children to take part in the Big Lesson but on the day they had four times as many, writes Save the Children Romania, who organised the event in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Research. 'Not only the numbers of the participants, but also some of the pictures (see photo gallery on GCE website) showed us that Romanian children "stand up" for girls education,' said Iona Grigorescu.

In East Asia, more than 100,000 children and teachers joined Oxfam and partners in the World's Biggest Lesson and related events, with excellent media coverage throughout the week. In Kg. Chhanang, Cambodia, after the lesson, girl children from school dormitories marched to Provincial Office of Education for a dialogue with local education officials about girls' education. In Jakarta and other cities in Indonesia there were Girls' Orations and street campaigns. "open space" schools for street children, drawing, story-telling and speech-making competitions and 45,000 Big Lesson participants on one island (Lombok) alone. Indonesia also witnessed the first education civil society stakeholders' dialogue with the Indonesian EFA committee during the Action Week.

In Vietnam there were another 45,000 participants and the lesson was broadcast live on Voice of Vietnam radio. In the Philippines, E-Net followed the world record attempt with a two-day forum on EFA which concluded with the presentation of action points and recommendations to the ministry. Finally, in East Timor, a National Conference on Education took place during the Action Week. Teachers, students, NGOs, government, religious and cultural institutions, activists, aid agencies joined together for a 3-day meeting to start dialogue on the philosophy of the East Timorese Education System and come up with policy and program proposals on ECCD, teacher training, adult literacy, popular education and basic formal education. Cross-cutting issues include education financing, girls' education, policy reform, marginalized groups, access and quality.

In Nigeria's Enugu State, children not only debated the causes of girls' exclusion, they agreed on action points to be implemented over the Easter holidays to get more girls into school. ANPPCAN Nigeria in collaboration with the Child Rescue and Survival Project organised the event. Peter Munene writes, 'The turn out in the midst of campaigns for national elections and school holidays, the interest and enthusiasm shown by students and teachers and their reaction to the Lesson humbled us all.

'All the messages in the various presentations, drama, songs, poems, debate, walk in support of education and discussions showed high support and understanding for girls' education. Children looked at various merits of educating girls and also at issues that hinder their education. In the Nigerian context, they looked at household chores, early marriages, preference of boys over girls, teenage pregnancy, large families, child trafficking etc."

'A child was also nominated by the others from the group to read the message by Mr. Kofi A. Annan, UN Secretary-General to all those participating. This message was a major motivation for the children as they fully identified with its content.
'Chanting "Raise Your Hands for Girls Education", the children came up with three main recommendations which they are to implement during the school holidays in support of girls education. These are:

1. To teach children working as domestic workers how to read and write.
2. To form Child Right Clubs in the communities and churches to educate people on the rights of the child.
3. To identify and report those taking away girls from the communities to work in other states or countries.'

In El Salvador they are hoping to attain 20,000 participants once all forms are in, writes CEDIP. "En El Salvador se esperaba la participación de 20 mil personas. Doscientos Centros Educativos, tres alcaldÌas municipales, dos universidades privadas, numerosos cÌrculos de alfabetización, Instituciones públicas y Organizaciones sociales de diferentes zonas de El Salvador, se unieron durante media hora para asistir a la Mayor Clase del Mundo, con el objetivo de romper el actual record mundial y apoyar la campaña por el acceso universal a una educación básica de calidad.

"Con el objetivo de llamar la atención de los diferentes sectores sociales y para que el evento no pasara desapercibido se preparó una actividad sÌmbolo en San Salvador. Dicha clase contó con participación de la vice ministra de Educación, licda. Matilde de Quintana, la representación de Oxfam Solidaridad y otras entidades de cooperación nacional e internacional, direcciones de instituciones, entre otros.

"Durante la clase las 28 alumnas y las personas invitadas reflexionaron sobre los niveles de analfabetismo en el mundo y la realidad educativa que viven las niñas y las mujeres en El Salvador. Las muchachas fueron muy participativas y se mostraron sumamente interesadas sobre el poco acceso que tienen las niñas en la educación. Sin duda esta experiencia nos dejo una importante lección a todos y todas las que participamos en 'La Mayor Clase'".

In Uruguay, REPEM mobilised rural women leaders, journalists, and political activists to organise the lesson throughout the country. In the capital city of Montevideo, "joy, emotion and shared responsibility" characterised the session led by Alejandra Scampini. 'The interest of everyone present was demonstrated by the concentration and silence, thinking, evaluating the information, and many, many hands up to question, give opinions and tell their experiences.

'This lesson was full of joy because we were able to reflect upon, and above all, to listen to the new generations that exchange opinions and question gender discrimination, while trying to explain the causes in a mature way, with ingenuousness and conviction.

'It meant a great emotion for us all to know that we will be protagonists of a global action to remind the governments that there is a signed agreement to be fulfilled by 2005: everyone has the right to education.
" And only the sixth grades have to break the record?" "How are we going to do it?" says a girl at the back end of the room.
NO, fortunately, in many parts of the world there are many persons speaking on the same subject that we are, at the same time, and in Uruguay not only in Montevideo, the capital city, but also in other provinces of the country.

'The faces light up and enthusiasm grows: we can make it!!!!

' "And to whom must we send the fax with our signatures?" "And where is the organization responsible for this?" "And when are we going to know whether we broke the record?" '

' Shared responsibility, because inequities in our country and in the world are very large, and all of us must work to change this.

'The teacher asked them: "According to you, which are the possible reasons for the fact that so many girls in the world do not attend school?" '

'The girls and boys speak up:

' "...because some persons believe that " girls don't need to learn"
' " girls have to take care of the house, they have to clean and can't work"
' "girls don't have the same rights as boys"
' "some men think that they're more important than women"
' "men don't just think they're more important, but some persons can't buy the materials for school"
' "&my parents told me that in other countries parents have to save money all their lives so that their kids can go to the university" '

'The teachers explained that in Uruguay primary, secondary and tertiary education is free for everyone, but that this is not so in other parts of the world, people have to pay in order to go to school.

' "the road to school can also be dangerous, or maybe sometimes it's difficult to get there"
' " Yes, I know of someone who..." and stories began to be told. Because here things also happen, not only in other parts of the world!!

' "There are girls that are mothers at the age of 12 and can't keep on studying because they have to look after their children, plus it's not well seen that they go to school during their pregnancy, and people say things to them."
' "Yes, that's true, my sister's friends in highschool help a group of pregnant teens that are alone"
' "And why are they pregnant if they're so young?" This generates a huge concern, this is about their group of peers.
' And the reply comes: "Well, maybe it's because we don't have information about our own sexuality and about the methods to avoid pregnancy."

' And why is it so important to learn? says Alejandra
' "Because if you don't know how to read and write you can't do many things"
' "to understand things"
' "because if you've got education it's easier to get a job"
' "not only read and write, because if you don't know how to do calculations you can't even go shopping"
' "to live better and not be poor"
' "also to know it's important that your boys and girls study"
' "Also for making friends" "Yeah! And sometimes it's fun" '

In Peru the lesson organised by Global March affiliate CESIP was a great success and the Minister of Education took one of the classes with much media interest. CESIP writes: 'La realización de la Mayor Clase del Mundo por la Educación de las Niñas ha sido todo un éxito en el Perú. Acabamos de regresar de la Escuela Pública "José Andrés Rázuri", ubicado en una zona populosa de Lima, donde el Ministro de Educación Gerardo Ayzanoa dió la clase a un grupo de 32 niñas y niños. Estuvieron muchos medios de comunicación.'

In a fishing village some 100 kms from Mumbai (Bombay), India, noted activist Lalita Ramdas describes how, in the relentless heat of April, the world record attempt set the stage for an exhilirating debate on local and global interconnections and imbalances. The lesson was organised by ASPBAE and PREIT, a local education enrichment trust, in 50 schools of Raigad District. Lalita writes:

'Revas Nauka lies at the extreme tip of the Alibag-Mandwa promontory and consists largely of a fishing and farming population. In comparison to several parts of India especially some of the states of Northern India Maharashtra is relatively gender sensitive in that girls' education has always been seen as important and girls do go to school, with most government schools being co-educational. Having said that one must also add that a typical pattern would be for the girl to study up to class 7 or 8 after which she would stay home, take on work, while waiting to be married. Once married, the chances of her making actual use of her literacy skills, especially in her circumscribed world of agricultural operations, are very limited indeed.

'I was asked to be present during this special global teach-in at this particular school a distance of about 18 kms from where I live. I nearly did not get there because young Dayanand who was to escort me apparently had a near accident when a huge herd of cattle suddenly ran on to the main road and almost knocked him off his motorbike! The resulting traffic jam was almost as effective as any in the crowded city across the harbour!

'This village school actually had five classrooms in a row slung out under a traditional tiled roof - Spartan in its amenities -no mats or benches - children sit cross legged on the floor. We arrived to find that our young teachers' assistant or 'Bal Sakhi' had managed to pack in about 100 kids ranging in age from 6 to 16 years old into one classroom and an overspill on to the verandah outside.

'As per normal practice in schools here, the children began the lesson with a Sanskrit prayer - an invocation to the Goddess of learning, [It is noteworthy that the deity in question, Saraswathi, is female!] which ended with an invocation to peace:' Om Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi'&&&May there be Peace, Peace, Peace.

'The para-teacher went through the lesson plan as outlined and the mixed bunch of children enthusiastically yelled out the answers. There was no hesitation in answering the basic questions posed -namely of goals set and promises made to halve illiteracy, and reducing by fifty percent the current levels of illiteracy. 'Million' being a totally alien concept in India we got the kids to identify the total number of adults unable to read or write, as 86.2 crores - or 862 million, after some initial attempts at guessing.

'What followed during the discussion on why so many women / girls were among the numbers who couldn't read or write was quite exciting - a dialogue which I helped the teacher facilitate. To understand why this was different it is also important to understand the normal atmosphere and culture of a 'typical Indian classroom'. The classroom continues to be one where there is a largely one way communication with little or no 'interactive' process between teacher and taught. Here suddenly they were provided an invitation to offer their views and opinions and there was no stopping them. Girls and boys alike were busy putting up their hands offering a variety of reasons why women were the ones most affected.

'These ranged from poverty and therefore priority to education of sons ; domestic responsibilities for the girls which boys don't have to take on; attitudes towards girls where they are not really expected to learn, or even think independently for that matter!

'Going a little beyond the parameters of the actual lesson we did a few additional exercises: in GEOGRAPHY, GENDER AND PEACE EDUCATION.

'1. An exercise in identifying how many countries there were in the world. The maximum that they were able to call out was about 35 and several were interspersing Indian cities and states together with countries of the world. We really missed having a map of the world as part of classroom equipment. We are also making a note that even the teachers and our own activists needed supplementary Geography inputs!

'2. A great exercise in identifying how boys and girls spent their spare time on their return from school and listing the many small ways in which discrimination works - how boys come home, eat and run out to play and then to do their homework; while their sisters are put to work in the house - fetching water, firewood, cleaning and chopping vegetables, caring for younger siblings and so forth. Also a good discussion followed on whether this was fair to girls - with every one vociferously saying 'no'. The boys present were also asked if they would be willing to share in the housework so that their sisters too could play cricket and spend time on studies too. After some initial hesitation, and looking at each other for moral support they did answer in the affirmative!!

'3. Finally, we briefly revisited the prayer for peace that they had recited at the beginning, and they were asked to point out one place in the world where there was War and Violence. Several hands shot up and they all shouted IRAQ. Equally unhesitatingly they said it was not fair that a big and powerful country like the USA was attacking a small country like Iraq and they all had picked up enough from their TV programmes to know that innocent children were being hurt and killed. I shared with the children a pledge for Peace and Justice which is going around on the global email circuits and has been translated into Marathi, the language of this state. Many of them wanted to sign and be part of yet another world wide campaign - the one against War.'

From Niger, Oxfam's Salina Sanou sends the following report.

'C'est dans une ambiance soutenue par la musique réalisée à l'occasion de la commémoration de la semaine EPT par le Groupe de Rap Nigérien Kay dan Gaskiya, qu'allait se dérouler la Grande leçon du monde du Mercredi 09 avril 2003 dans l'enceinte du Stade Général Seyni Kountché de Niamey. Dès 08 heures du matin, des groupes de jeunes scolaires a pied essaimaient vers le stade en plus des vingt cars de cent places assurant le transport des élèves qui effectuaient des ballets incessants sous les yeux admiratifs des organisateurs et organisatrices meurtris par le report de la cérémonie prévue initialement au Palais des Congrès de Niamey pour des raisons techniques indépendantes de leur volonté. A 9h, les officiels étaient installés ... La presse nationale n'était pas en reste car elle était venue ; elle aussi, pour immortaliser cette évènement historique. A 8h55, pour faire preuve de leur pouvoir volitif de voir un intérÍt particulier accordé à la scolarisation des filles dont le thème est à l'honneur cette année, les élèves et les participants entonnèrent l'hymne nationale « la Nigérienne » qui emplit de fait tout le stade.

'A 9h00, la Présidente du parlement des jeunes pris la parole devant environ deux mille cinq cents personnes pour dispenser en simulant une situation de classe la grande leçon du monde, devant un parterre d'élèves actifs et réceptifs répondant avec engouement aux questions posées par l'animatrice de la leçon, Mademoiselle Halima Hima Moussa. Il est 9h30, La leçon venait de se terminer et un tonnerre d'applaudissements s'éleva du stade, comme pour dire que le Réseau des Organisations du Secteur éducatif du Niger venait de gagner une bataille dans le cadre du plaidoyer qu'il mène dans le domaine de l'éducation. La grande leçon a certes été modeste mais a permis de véhiculer auprès des participants un espoir mais aussi et surtout une vision et une dimension nouvelle de l'éducation. Cette leçon devra se traduire par une volonté sans faille de l'Etat et du Gouvernement du Niger à travers une expression ferme de leur engagement pour tout action touchant l'éducation de qualité pour tous et en particulier la scolarisation des filles. N'est ce pas là une mémorable leçon ? '

Several of the thousands of people involved in organising the Big Lesson in scores of towns and villages around the world have been writing to us with their impressions of the Action Week. One of them, Hailu Sime in Ethiopia, captured the feelings of many when he said that the urgency and importance of girls' education was now "ringing on the hearts and minds of millions of people" in his country.

From the normally sober and highbrow surroundings of the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where the Director General presented the lesson to member states during the course of an official Executive Board meeting, Teresa Murtagh wrote: "We had great fun at our event yesterday. People genuinely enjoyed it. And that was the surprise."

Numerically speaking, Bangladesh has emerged as the biggest star of a very big show, with at least 450,000 children and adults across the country taking part, including students in at least 15,000 BRAC schools. NGOs in India also achieved at least double their original target of 100,000 participants and the national education campaign in Brazil reached twice its expectation of 20,000 participants.

Fax machines at the GCE's Brussels office were so busy that they ran out of ink, as completed validation forms began to flood in. The GCE asks for your patience and persistence as we set up systems for dealing with these unexpected and amazing numbers. We need ALL of those forms in, either directly to us in Brussels or to a local GCE member organisation involved in coordinating national events, before we can officially set a new record!
Lesson brings home the power of education

Beyond the drama of sheer numbers, there were also some very poignant moments yesterday. In Zimbabwe and Ghana, CAMA opened the Lesson with personal testimonials from articulate young women of the same ages from similar backgrounds - except that some had had the chance to finish their education, while others had been forced to drop out. Their moving stories illustrated better than a dozen lessons the saying of Nelson Mandela: "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

In a small village in Andhra Pradesh, India, children from the government school, together with workers from Sangramitha Service Society (a local NGO) followed up the Lesson by visiting the houses of some of their friends and peers who had been forced to drop out. They discussed with the children's parents what they had just learned in the lesson, speaking of the importance of education for a better future.

Nagamani of standard 7 has not been to school for the last month. Her mother is ill and there is no one else to do the domestic work. Nagamani is now occupied with looking after her one-year-old sister, four-year-old brother and her sick mother. She does all the domestic chores like cooking, cleaning, washing, serving and nursing. The children persuaded Nagamani's mother to let her return to school in time for the exams. (Read more at www.netaid.org/campaigns/actionweek/gce_story.pt?article_id=1033&group_id=6198)

GCE Chairperson Kailash Satyarthi congratulated everyone on their achievement and thanked them for their passionate support for the cause of girls' education, but reminded activists and educators that much remains to be done.

"For every one person who took part in the World's Biggest Lesson on the 9th of April," he said, "there are another one hundred children who were not in school yesterday, and who will not be in school any day at all, until we convince our leaders to invest more in good quality education and make schools free for all."

Satyarthi said that the lively discussion, fun and fellowship that participants enjoyed yesterday stood in stark contrast to the experience of 115 million out of school children, the majority of them girls, who never get the chance to debate ideas or experience the excitement of learning.

Satyarthi urged teachers, students, and civic groups everywhere to keep up the campaign to make education a right and not a privilege for all the world's girls and boys. As an immediate follow-up, the GCE will be launching an e-mail petition and letter-writing action calling on the leaders of the world's richest countries to increase their aid for education. Watch this space!

GCE also appeals to everyone who is participating in the Action Week to send photos and stories about the Biggest Lesson and about all of the other wonderful events that are taking place throughout this week. Watch the following websites as the photos that you send us start appearing:

www.netaid.org/actionweek

And finally ...Thank you everyone for your support in making the World's Biggest Lesson truly "A lesson the world will never forget"!

Sports stars, pop stars, authors - even a President - join in

"Educate girls" is the message resounding around the world today as three-quarters of a million children, teachers and parents join in the World's Biggest Lesson to demand a fair chance for every girl.

The response to this campaign action has been overwhelming, with registered participants in the World's Biggest Lesson rising from 250,000 to more than 750,000 worldwide over the past few days.

The GCE is calling on governments and donors to increase investment in education, drop school fees and introduce comprehensive policies to help girls access and complete school. Currently, some 65 million girls are denied even a primary education and will join the ranks of the half a billion women worldwide who can't read or write.

"Educating girls doesn't cost a bomb," said GCE chairperson Kailash Satyarthi. "For the cost of one Stealth bomber, we could build 100,000 schools." *

"Let this be a lesson the world will never forget"
- Annan

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last night issued a statement backing the GCE's effort to set a new world record for the biggest lesson in history. "The fact that millions are still deprived of [education] -- most of them girls -- should fill us all with shame," Annan said.

Annan called for redoubled efforts to achieve the education goals, saying these goals are "crucial" to the success of all of the other Millennium Development Goals for reducing world poverty.

"If we are to succeed in our efforts to build a more healthy, peaceful and equitable world, the classrooms of the world have to be full of girls as well as boys," the Secretary-General added.

"Let this be not only the world's biggest ever lesson, but a lesson that the world will never forget," he concluded. The Secretary-General's message is reproduced in full at the end of this bulletin for those who wish to use it in their own Action Week press statements and public events.

As reports continue to come in from more countries, the GCE announced this morning that more than half a million people are expected to join the world record effort tomorrow, in languages ranging from Amharic to Danish and Bangla to KiSwahili.

GCE chairperson Kailash Satyarthi issued a challenge to schools and NGOs everywhere to record at least 250,000 more participants tomorrow in order to bring the World's Biggest Lesson total to three-quarters of a million people.

"We urge everyone to be sure to fill in their validation form tomorrow, recording the names of everyone who participated," said Sathyarthi. "Every single name, every single school is crucial to helping us break the record."

Without a correctly completed validation form, including the names of each participant and signed by a witness, your effort cannot be counted towards the world record total.

The official world record validation form (representative's witness statement) is included in the World Record instruction pack and can also be separately downloaded in French, Spanish or English from www.campaignforeducation.org/action.html. If you need the form e-mailed or faxed to you, please contact anne@campaignforeducation.org.

The GCE will send certificates to all schools and organisations that return validation forms (please sure to include a complete and accurate address on the form).

And remember:

• To count towards the world record, the lesson must take place on 9th April 2003 at one of the three official World Record Attempt times: 4 am GMT, 8 am GMT or 2 pm GMT. It must last for 30 minutes.
   
• Each class or group taking part in the lesson must have a representative who will teach the lesson and who will sign the validation form (Representative's Witness Statement).
   
• The official lesson plan must be followed, including the test at the end.
   
• Don't forget to allow time before or after the lesson to take down the names of everyone who has participated. These names must be entered on the validation form.
   
• After the lesson, you must complete, sign and return the validation form (Representative's Witness Statement) that is included in the World Record packs. The form must show the names of each and every individual who took part, otherwise they cannot be counted towards the World Record. 

Campaign message reaches the grassroots as members mobilise schools and communities Action Week kicks off with more than 400,000 participants

The 2003 Action Week began today with a massive groundswell of popular support from India and Ethiopia, boosting the number of World Record participants to an estimated 410,000 people around the world.

On the eve of the Action Week, Indian NGOs and unions reported that 100,000 children are expected to join in the World's Biggest Lesson on April 9, while Ethiopian NGOs said that 70,000 children and youth will take part in the Big Lesson in 3 local languages.

On Monday April 7, the GCE launches an important new report assessing the achievability of the 2005 goal for gender parity in education. The report, titled A Fair Chance, is based on research in nine countries. While global progress on girls' education has been dismally slow, this study looks at the exceptions: countries that have achieved dramatic results, including doubling or tripling girls' enrolments in a short period.

The research shows that behind the success of these countries lies a small number of basic policy ingredients. "There is no single blueprint, but there are some policy fundamentals - such as making education free, making education flexible and providing extra subsidies or incentives to the poorest families", said GCE chairperson Kailash Satyarthi. If all governments acted on these recommendations, and donors provided the additional funds needed to implement them, 65 million out of school girls could still get their fair chance to learn.

The full report as well as a summary of the findings and a press release can be downloaded from the GCE website on www.campaignforeducation.org/action.html

Ethiopia got an early start on the Action Week with a major conference to present new research on EFA, including the country research report that forms a part of the GCE study, A Fair Chance, and analysis of budgets and spending for EFA. The opening of the workshop was marked by a musical drama along the main streets of Addis highlighting the importance of girls and women education. The Big Lesson will be transmitted live on FM radio and the Federal Ministry of Education has written to all 11 regional education bureaux requesting them to mobilise schools. Cooperation between the national education network (BEN-E), Actionaid, Oxfam and the Ministry has been strong.

In Kenya the national education coalition, Elimu Yetu (EYC), is putting the emphasis on district level mobilisation with the Big Lesson and public forums and processions taking place in towns across the country as well as in Nairobi's informal settlements. National impact will be achieved through press articles throughout the week, and a supplement in major newspapers. Kenya's new government declared free primary education shortly after taking offices, and civil society organisations met last month to discuss the implementation of this policy. The outcomes of their discussions have provided the advocacy messages for this year's Action Week (known locally as 'elimu week'). EYC is calling for a compulsory education law to be introduced, for government to finalise an EFA action plan and for donors to move away from individual projects towards a basket funding approach.

Despite the frustrations of the war in Liberia, ALPO and other CSOs are working very hard to ensure the execution of programs for the Action Week in Liberia. The Big Lession will be held in 7 different locations around the city of Monrovia. This is due to the security situation in the country as rebels continue attacking on three fronts in Liberia. Local posters have been produced for distribution in schools, hospitals, displaced centers etc. The week will end with a workshop featuring government officials who are expected to influence education in Liberia.

In Hungary, teachers have been mobilised by their union to write letters to the Prime Minister regarding the poor situation of public education in the country.

NetAid is hosting an online 'thermometer' where you can check the progress of the World Record attempt around the world. Be sure to visit their Action Week page at www.netaid.org/actionweek

Journalists around the world are looking for photos and stories of Action Week events. If you plan to take some exciting photos, and would like to share them with the international media, please let us know by writing to anne@campaignforeducation.org

Send information on your World Record numbers and Action Week activities to us at the address below.

New numbers just received from Denmark (27,000 children), the Netherlands (30,000 children) and the U.K. (32,000 children) take the total registered to participate in the World's Biggest Lesson to 248,000 around the world.

It is not necessary to inform us ahead of time in order to join in the world record attempt on April 9, but we'd love to hear from all of the countries involved.

From Dhaka to Dakar, from Guinea to Greenland, more than 180,000 children are getting ready for the World's Biggest Lesson!

On Wednesday, 9 April the GCE will attempt to set a new World Record for the largest number of people taking part in a simultaneous lesson. The lesson itself will help to spread the message about the importance of girls' and women's education to thousands of villages and towns in over 100 countries. More than 180,000 children are expected to join in.

In Paris, UNESCO Director-General Matsuura will give the Big Lesson to the UNESCO Executive Board.

Bangladesh currently boasts the largest number of participants registered for the world record attempt. With some 41,000 children expected to participate, Bangladesh could break the world record all by itself! The Secretary of State for Education and other senior officials will participate in the Big Lesson and the MoE has also written to 85,000 schools across the country, asking them to join the World Record attempt. The Vice-Chancellors of all the universities have added their signatures to an Action Week leaflet. 500 volunteers will be distributing Action Week stickers (in Bangla) in bus and train stations and other public places.

In India, the World's Biggest Lesson will be a part of a programme of lectures, debates, drama, music, etc., on the 9th of April in numerous cities and villages across India, involving some 10,000 children.

Nearly 15,000 schoolchildren in the UK have been pre-registered to take part in the Big Lesson, and there will be a major event at Wembley Hall in London.

In Malawi, FAWE will organise the Big Lesson in literacy classes for women and adolescent girls, with girls as the teachers. In addition, live debates on girls' education will take place on all radio stations and in many rural villages.

The Big Lesson will be publicised on children's TV in Denmark and some 6,000 students will join the World Record attempt, including 2 schools in Greenland.

In Vietnam, a group of street and working children from informal education programmes have been planning Action Week activities, including peer workshops for other street and working children and a campaign T-shirt designed by kids. Children in informal education centres across Hanoi will be asked to contribute pictures and to write about girls' education - all contributions will be presented during a public forum on 9th April.

In Guinea, debates on the value of girls' education will take place in rural villages around the country, and there will be people's theatre performances dramatising the negative consequences of keeping girls out of school.

Girls and women in India will march to parliament or local government offices, to present community petitions or declarations to national leaders, calling for specific actions to achieve the 2005 goal. Women's groups and students groups will be mobilised to carry out a 'gender audit' on the state of girls education and female literacy in India and a call for specific actions and policy recommendations to achieve the 2005 goal. This will highlight the popular demand by civil society for action by the Indian Government on girls and women's education.

In Liberia, there will be a football tournament to highlight the importance of girls' and women's education, and a national forum where girls and women will chair discussions on issues of concern.