Catherine McKinnell, MP for Newcastle North, is taking the concerns of Broadway East First School pupils to the Prime Minister after she visited the Gosforth school earlier this week.
Pupils from Broadway East’s Class 6 invited Catherine to hear more about why they are backing the ‘Send My Friend to School’ campaign, which brings together thousands of children across the country to speak up for the universal right to education, and to remind world leaders of the Millennium Development Goal commitment of primary education for all by 2015.
57 million primary age children around the world are still unable to attend school, with 48 million still expected to be out of school by 2015 if the current rate of progress continues. Many children cannot access education because of school fees, the need to work to support their family, the distance to the nearest school, the lack of trained teachers or the very poor standard of facilities.
This year, the ‘Send My Friend’ campaign is focussing on the 24 million children around the world with a disability who are unable to attend school – often because there isn’t the transport available to get them there, or the facilities at school to support them.
Class 6 pupils from Broadway East spoke to Catherine about the campaign, and showed her the ‘Buddy Chain’ made by every one of the school’s 225 pupils to get the Send My Friend message across.
Part of the Broadway East First School ‘Buddy Chain’
Following her visit, Catherine has written to the Prime Minister to press him to take further action on this issue, particularly for those children with a disability.
Catherine said:
‘The Broadway East pupils were really passionate about the Send My Friend to School campaign, and it’s great to see young people campaigning for change around the world.
‘I’m pleased to be able to take their concerns to Downing Street, as it’s clearly completely unacceptable that so many children are still unable to access primary education, when this is one of the single biggest barriers to getting out of poverty