21. “You might think you are
powerless, but if all the children
act together you can be more
powerful than any government.
Together, you can be the
generation that sees every child
get the education that is their
right.”
Nelson Mandela
Why do we go to school? Ask for ideas of why we go to school and why is it important – to have fun, to learn, to play, to make friends… Photo: Chris Morgan/GCE/ActionAid
b. Around the world, there are 60 million children out of school. [Click for picture] Imagine Wembley stadium full of people, that’s nearly 100,000 people, so 10 Wembley stadiums would hold 1 million people. It would take 6000 Wembley stadiums to hold 60 million children! Most of the children around the world who are missing out on school live in Africa. In Nigeria, 10 million children don’t go to school, that’s one sixth of the total.
Where is Nigeria? Find Africa on a globe or atlas. Nigeria is a country in Africa. What is the capital city? (Answer: Abuja) Did you know that it: has the largest population of any other African country? (162 million) that the weather is hot and sunny most of the year? There is also a wet season when it rains nearly every day. has a currency called the naira (and each naira is made up of 100 kobo) is nearly four times bigger than the United Kingdom
Fatima’s story Meet Fatima who is 10 years old. She lives in Nigeria with her brother and her parents. Find out more about Fatima’s day (download her story from the Send My Friend website or use the story poster included with your pack). Hand out Fatima’s story to a reader to share with the class. Compare your day to Fatima’s day, what is the same and what is different? What do you think Fatima feels like not going to school? Photo: Akinkugbe Okikiola/ActionAid
Why doesn’t Fatima go to school? Fatima’s family doesn’t have enough money to pay for her school uniform, books or pens or pencils. She has to help her mother look after the house by cleaning or sweeping the ground. She also sells onions in the market to help make money. But Fatima’s mother wants her to go to school, she says, “I would like Fatima and her brother to go to school, but we cannot provide for the demands of the school. If they become better educated, I think their future life will be better.” Photo: Akinkugbe Okikiola/ActionAid
What is school like? What do you think it would be like to learn in this class? How many children are there in your class? In Suleman Tanko Laurel Primary School, there are 46 children in one class, but because there are not enough classrooms, two classes are taught together which means over 90 children in a class with one teacher. Photo: Chris Morgan/GCE/ActionAid Nigeria doesn’t have enough primary school teachers. There are 600,000 primary school teachers, but 200,000 more are needed.
What is it like for teachers? Meet Ishaku Yaro who is the Assistant School Head teacher at the school. He says the most difficult thing about teaching is not being paid for his work every month, “how can you plan when you are not paid when you are meant to be paid?” In Nigeria, there are 600,000 primary teachers, but 200,000 more are needed. In fact the number of teachers went down between 2005 and 2010. Photo: Chris Morgan/GCE/ActionAid
How many years do you go to school? In the UK and Ireland, the average number of years spent in school is 10-12 years, from ages 5 to 16 or 19. Photo: Chater School, Watford, 2012
b. In rural areas of Nigeria, girls spend an average of 3 years in school. In some parts of Nigeria, girls can spend as little as 6 months in school. Many girls drop out of school because: there may be a shortage of female teachers there is a long distance to walk to school and there may be dangers that affect girls more than boys there is a lack of water some schools may not have toilets.
Where is Malawi? Malawi also has more girls out of school and one of the reasons for this is a shortage of teachers. Malawi is in east Africa and is surrounded by other countries. What is the capital city? (Answer: Lilongwe) Did you know that Lake Malawi covers a third of the country? It is 360 miles long and 52 miles wide and separates Malawi from its neighbour, Tanzania.
Zione’s story Meet Zione who is 10 years old. She goes to Chikowa Primary School, in a village in Malawi. [click for class photo] Zione and her classmates have to sit on the floor of their classrooms and have to share books. She says, "In our class there are 154 of us. When we write we have to write on our laps. There are so many of us that when I write someone can bump against me and I make mistakes because we are so cramped together." At her school there are 485 pupils in Year 1, by the final year there are only 24 pupils and only 6 of those are girls. There are only 8 teachers to 1282 pupils. Photos: Paul Wu/ActionAid
Why do you think this teacher is taking this lesson outdoors? Do you think it looks fun? In some schools, lessons are outside like this one because there may not be enough classrooms in the school or not enough teachers. This is fun when it is sunny, but not when it rains! In some parts of Malawi, there are 36 children with 1 teacher, but in other parts of the country there are more than 120 children with 1 teacher. Photo: Karen Garvin/ActionAid
This year, help us to remind world leaders that every child needs a teacher. Join millions of other people around the world to take action this summer and remind world leaders of the promise they made in the year 2000. World leaders said that every children will have an education by 2015 but with just two years left there are still 1.7 million teachers missing from classrooms worldwide. And 60 million children don’t get the chance to go to school.
Help us remind world leaders of the great work that teachers do around the world. Cut out this teacher figure and make your own ideal teacher. Think of words to describe him or her Use the A4 template Or you can make a teacher puppet You can even go life-sized and draw round your own teacher!
What things do you think make a good teacher? Ask for ideas on what a teacher does to make lessons interesting and fun. What skills and qualities should they have?
An ideal teacher What do you think of this ideal teacher drawn by a teacher in the UK? Use it to give you ideas about your ‘ideal teacher.’
An ideal teacher This is what the class at Yangoji Primary School in Nigeria wrote when we asked them what they thought made a good teacher. Do you agree with them? What would you write? Photo: Kate Holt/Shoot The Earth/ActionAid
How can you remind world leaders that every child needs a teacher? These circles show how we can influence people, starting with our family, school and even the Taoiseach. You can send your ideal teacher messages to your TD and ask her or him to pass them to the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach can try to persuade world leaders to spend more money on education. Can you think of words, slogans or messages that you could write on your ‘ideal teacher’ to persuade yourTD about the importance of this issue?
Speak up! Why do you think these children made this shape in their playground? You don’t just have to draw or write, pupils at Stag Lane Junior School made the shape of a girl in their playground and took this photo, which was used in the local press. That helped to ensure that lots more people heard about the campaign. If you invite your MP in to school you could prepare a presentation and some questions to find out what they think and to try and influence them to get their support. Help us to remind world leaders that every child needs a teacher! Photo: Stag Lane Junior School, Harrow
When we join together we can have more impact than when we act alone. This quote from Nelson Mandela shows just how powerful young people can be if we all join together to remind world leaders of their promise to give every child an education by 2015. Don’t forget, your school is one of thousands of schools across the UK taking part. And children and young people all around the world will be taking part in a Global Campaign for Education to highlight the importance of teachers this spring and summer.
And finally thank you for helping to make sure that every child has a teacher!
