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International
School for all in Malawi
Eilidh Naismith and Billy Davidson, both 15, from Hutchesons’ School in Glasgow, are the winners of this year’s Steve Sinnott Award*. They travelled with the charity ActionAid to Malawi, where fewer than half of children finish even a basic primary education, in their role as Young Ambassadors for the Global Campaign for Education.
Arriving in the capital, Lilongwe, they met 13-year-old Stanwell Mwanza. Billy wrote in his diary:
“I went out on to the streets with Stanwell who collects scrap metal and sells it to make money to feed himself and his family. He showed me the huge stinking piles of rubbish at the side of the road, which he picks through to find small pieces of metal. It just felt so wrong that a young boy of 13, who should be in school, has to spend his days picking through rubbish.”
They travelled to the rural village of Mdwele where 20 per cent of children are AIDS orphans. Eilidh wrote:
“We met Diya who is 11. She lives with her grandmother, as her parents have died, and supports them by farming on their plot and for other people. Billy and I helped Diya to weed; after just 15 minutes we felt weak and tired… and were told this would earn just 2p. It was tragic to learn that Diya works for hours every day and gets paid so little.”
Though primary schooling in Malawi has been free since 1994 there are many hidden costs such as uniforms, pens and notebooks, which are often too great – three quarters of families live on less than $2 a day.
Eilidh’s diary continues: “Diya had dropped out of school because she couldn’t afford the uniform and was laughed at by her classmates. She feels she can’t go back because it would be humiliating, as she would be the oldest in her class.“
Billy and Eilidh visited Chikowa Primary School. Due to lack of school rooms, three classes were taking place outside. There were as many as 485 children to one teacher.
In Malawi, only 10 per cent of children learn to read and write by the age of ten, so many parents don’t see education as a good investment. They keep them at home to help on the farm or look after younger siblings.
Eilidh noted that there are 1,282 children at the Chikowa primary school but only six girls and 18 boys made it to the last class. “One of the girls wanted to be a doctor… I feel that their high hopes will give them a bright future, they were such clever, strong-minded girls.”
There are still 67 million children worldwide who don’t go to school. Billy and Eilidh will now be spreading the word, encouraging more UK pupils to remind world leaders of the millennium promise to ensure that every child gets a quality primary education by 2015.
* The award was set up by the family, friends and colleagues of former NUT General Secretary Steve Sinnott, who died in 2008, to commemorate his international work on education.
Send My Friend
Join Billy and Eilidh in the campaign to Send My Friend to School. For a free pack and classroom resources go to
www.sendmyfriend.org
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