On Monday Kelly Tolhurst MP was pleased to present petitions on behalf of the pupils of The Thomas Aveling School and Balfour Junior School to the Secretary of State for International Development, calling for all children being given the right and chance to go to school.
Send My Friend to School is run by the UK coalition of the Global Campaign for Education, which campaigns within the UK to increase community awareness of the state of education internationally. They highlight that world leaders signed up to a new set of commitments in 2015 aiming for a better world to tackle issues such as hunger and poverty. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are a successor to the Millennium Development Goals and they include a goal of providing education for all, up to the age of 15, by 2030.
That 124 million children are out of school around the world (59 million children of primary school age and 65 million children of lower secondary school age) is a global concern, and one Kelly feels fellow developed nations have the capability and responsibility to address if we are to cultivate prosperous relationships with these developing nations. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that a further 250 million are not learning the basics, due to poor quality of education or early drop out from school.
After presenting the petition Kelly said,
“I am pleased that our own young people in Rochester and Strood find the huge numbers of children unable to access education as saddening as I do.
“Our local school children have gone to great thought and effort to put together their messages to the Secretary of State and I was happy to see them delivered safely.
“There are many unfortunate reasons why children have been unable to access education globally, but they should have the opportunity to achieve their full potential in life wherever they might reside.”
The UK coalition of the Global Campaign for Education have said that over 10,000 schools and youth groups, and millions of children, have been involved so far in the UK.