Countdown to World's Biggest Lesson
16 April 2008
Though it is generally accepted that lower class sizes are better, this rule-of-thumb will be thrown out of the window for one day only next week, when teachers and school children around the world come together to attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for the biggest lesson... EVER!
The World's Biggest Lesson will take place on 23 April, and it is hoped that hundreds of thousands of school children and teachers, in no fewer than 120 countries, will take part.
The record attempt forms part of the Global Campaign for Education, and is being organised in the UK by the Send My Friend to School campaign (Oxfam is a member organisation), which sets out to remind world leaders that 72 million children are denied a basic education.
Without education, it's near impossible for poor people to begin to learn the skills they need to work themselves out of poverty.
Imagine if you couldn't read or write. Would it hold you back?
Helping make sure that children and adults have access to basic education is a huge part of Oxfam's work. But we don't just help build schools and pay for exercise books. As part of our Health and Education For All campaign, Oxfam is calling for Governments and institutions to provide the two million extra teachers the world needs to make education for all a reality.
In the run up to the record attempt next week, pupils Diana and Mustafa, pictured below and from Bowes Primary School in Enfield, went to Downing Street last month, where they asked Gordon Brown to support the campaign.
The Prime Minister pledged to redouble his efforts to get the remaining 72 million children into school by 2015 and to improve their quality of learning.
If you're a teacher or a pupil, there are some freebie lesson plans and instructions on how to take part in the day on the Send My Friend website.
Or, if you're not a teacher, why not think of a friend who is, and then tap them out an email to tell them about what's happening. It shouldn't be a difficult sell - most teachers are already up to their eyeballs in work, so some free lesson plans will probably come as a welcome relief.
Children from Bowes Primary School in Enfield ask Gordon Brown to "send my friend to school". Credit: David Rose/ActionAid
Comments
Were all schools & colleges contacted about this?
It was the very day the NUT went on strike.
My daughters nor I heard of it until now.
Sorry.
Trisha Martin | April 30, 2008 2:40 PM
Hi Kirsty,
Oxfam does not have a history in providing education services for children with disabilities; our main focus is on gender equality in education. However, just like we said in the blog, we actively support the Global Campaign for Education and here in the UK are active members of GCE UK.
We agree wholeheartedly with Deaf Child Worldwide that Education For All will never mean 'for all' unless specific attention is paid to children with disabilities.
The most active organisations within GCE UK who specifically focus on this issue, apart from Deaf Child Worldwide, are Sightsavers, The Leonard Cheshire Foundation and Handicap International.
As with all organisations in the education sector, it is perhaps not so much a question of being unsupportive of a particular field, but rather focussing on where we can add the most value and supporting the GCE financially and with policy input on gender equality, where we have more expertise.
Hope that helps at least a bit :-)
Richard, Oxfam GB | April 24, 2008 1:20 PM
As a school Principal.I am in full support of this campaign. In the school today we pray for the children not yet in the school and talked to those who will support them financially to be able to pay their fees.
Congratulations - continue the campaign.
V.J.Dilli,
Principal,
YMCA Vocational Training Centre, Kaduna, Nigeria
Victor J.Dilli | April 24, 2008 12:27 PM
I am interested in the work of Oxfam against poverty.
That is a really good campaign.
I hope all of the children in poverty can pass their A level exams and get good jobs.
Carol | April 18, 2008 1:30 PM
I would really recommend the Global Campaign activities to teachers and congratulate Oxfam on the huge amount of work it does to improve access to education around the world.
However, I want to ask them what they are doing about the fact that globally one third of all of the children out of school are children with disabilities. For the 16 million deaf children in developing countries, not being in school can mean never learning to communicate and leading very isolated lives? On my blog, http://kirstyjwilson.wordpress.com, I am asking whether education for all will ever really mean all, unless big organisations like Oxfam pay more attention to making education accessible to deaf and disabled children. If Oxfam was able to post about any work with disabled children on its blog - I would be really interested to read about it.
Kirsty Wilson | April 17, 2008 5:16 PM