Illustration by Nick Sharratt

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Illustration by Nick Sharratt

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Story from Department of Labour, India

CHILD LABOURREAL STORIES

Name Age

Country

Gu"y✂ 9In"a

Gudiya is 9 years old. She used to love school. She was a very good student who worked hard and wanted to be a doctor when she grew up.

However, when Gudiya’s father died she had no other option but to drop out of school and earn money to help her family put food on the table.

She now works as a servant, cleaning dishes and doing chores in a rich man’s house so she can help provide for her family who are so poor that they have no choice.

This homework note came from her notebook 2 days after she was forced to leave school:

To&y’s H() W(rk 1. B.g ✂/d 0(lle02 20 5פe7 8om M.h;ul=–B✂&r>r 0?s@nA 2. CCe✂/ ✂/d w✄sF tה "sהs ✂2 MIs. SKrL’s MuN 3. KQaR tה SuAT U(r tה VWeXnA )al

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Story from Plan International

CHILD MARRIAGE

REAL STORIESName Age

Country

MyQs7 15M✄l✂[i

Myness lived with her grandmother in such extreme poverty that they couldn’t even afford to buy soap to wash. When Myness was 13, her friend convinced her to marry a man much older than her who could afford to take care of her.

Myness believed this was the only option, swapping her school life so not to burden her grandmother with taking care of them both when they had such little money.

But after she married, life became even worse as her husband spent all the money he had on himself, and left her without food.

Luckily her Grandmother sought help and Myness is now back at school learning to build herself a better future now free from her husband.

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DISCRIMINATIONREAL STORIES

In 2009 a Pakistani school girl called Malala Yousafzai wrote a diary for the BBC after she was forced out of school by the Taliban.

The Taliban are a group of people with extreme views and believe that women should not be educated after the age of eight. Malala was 11 years old when the Taliban took over her home town of Mingora, in Pakistan, and she and her friends were forced to leave school.

She decided to share her feelings and the injustice she felt in a diary.

From her diary – I am afraid – 3 January 2009

I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taliban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. I was afraid going to school because the Taliban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools. Only 11 students attended the class out of 27. The number decreased because of Taliban’s edict.”

Malala found a way to go to school against the Taliban’s wishes, but they found out and when she was just 15 Taliban boarded her school bus and shot her in the head. She was badly injured but she survived.

Malala is now in school protected from any harm. Outside of school she is an activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize winner.

Name Age

Country

M✂Cal✄ 17P✂]ist✄n

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When Mohammed was 15 years old, he and his four brothers, and two sisters were caught in the middle of a horrible conflict in their hometown.

Bombs and rockets went off without warning, shattering their town. Their father was injured when an explosion went off right next to their own home, smashing windows and the family car.

Mohammed’s school was closed despite important exams coming up. The family were trapped at home for weeks, unable to leave and see their friends.

When the violence calmed down, schools reopened but Mohammed’s school was very affected. The windows were shattered, desks and chairs destroyed, broken toilets and nervous, distressed students. Even when peace was declared, parents were too scared to send their children back to school for fear of them being unsafe.

Mohammed explains his dreams for the future:

!“I want to learn how to become a mechanical engineer and need teachers to do their best to help me. I dream that when the war ends, we will be able to go to school and play freely like other children.”

Story from UNICEF

REAL STORIESCONFLICT

Name Age

Country

MoKm)d 15IIa^

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Resources Real story videos

Watch the video

Girl brides The story of two sisters from GhanaA film from CAMFED

Conflict, child labour, child marriage Stories from Gaza, Sierra Leone and Lebanon

Watch the video

Warning: Some content is uncomfortable viewing. Teachers please use discretion.

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Afghanistan

4.2 million children are out of school

Where are children out-of-school?

Pakistan

5.4 million children are out of school

India

1.4 million children are out of school

Sudan

2.8 million children are out of school

Nigeria

8.7 million children are out of school

28 million children who are out-of-school live in conflict areas

14 million girlsunder the age of 18 become brides each year and many are not in school

FIRST THE

WORST!

31 million girlsare out-of-school

15 million children are working and not in school

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How does education make a difference?

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“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution. Education first.”———Malala YousafzaiUN Youth Assembly, 2012

Watch a video about Malala

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EDUCATIONMAKING A DIFFERENCE

REAL STORIES

As you heard in the film earlier, Christina was forced out of her school in Sierra Leone because her parents sold her into marriage, against her will, to a man twice her age when she was 13 years old.

She ran away from her husband and her parents would not take her back.

Christina has now joined a community youth group, where she met girls with a similar experience. She has been able to go back to school, and now fights to end child in Sierra Leone, and around the world so other girls have the chance to be educated and free.

Name

Country

CFIi7_`Si.ba L.oQ

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Name

Country

Oj(nw✄Nieer=a

This is Ojonwa from Nigeria in West Africa. When she was a girl her parents were told not to spend on education for her and her four sisters because they were girls.

But her parents refused to give in to pressure and were determined to give their five daughters the education like they had been able to have.

Ojonwa, now graduated from an economics degree from Nigeria’s Bingham University, gives her time, money, and most importantly, her voice to make certain that all children get an equal chance of succeeding in life by getting a quality education.

EDUCATIONMAKING A DIFFERENCE

REAL STORIES

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Name

Country

ULirPakistan

Umair is from Pakistan, and has seen young child marriage in his family which has led him to stand against this practice.

He has worked as a social worker, helping girls to stand up for themselves and their rights.

Umair now has his own organisation spreading awareness and helping young people have the confidence to raise their voice and help stop discrimination against young girls. 

EDUCATIONMAKING A DIFFERENCE

REAL STORIES

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What is being done to help the out of school children?

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In 2000, leaders from around the world came together to set out the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of goals to achieve by 2015 to make efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.

One of the MDG’s was a promise to get every child into school and learning by 2015. There are still those 58 million children forced out of school because of the issues you’ve learnt about – child labour, child marriage and discrimination and attacks on schools are on the increase.

We are now counting down to the UN General Assembly in September 2015 when world leaders will meet. Now is the time to increase pressure and ensure the promise they made of education for all is kept.

Together we must make 2015 the year every child secures the right to learn.

Millennium Development Goals

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MongoliaThere have been some

positive changes

Ghana

Burundi

No more school fees means more children can go to school

No more school fees means more children can go to school

110 million childrenout of school

58 million childrenout of school

0 childrenout of school

BoliviaIntroduced education in multiple languages so children can learn in their own language

EthiopiaNo more school fees means more children can go to school

Nepal

Kenya

Malawi

Mozambique

No more school fees means more children can go to school

No more school fees means more children can go to school

No more school fees means more children can go to school

No more school fees means more children can go to school

Teachers move with nomadic communities so children can get an education without leaving their families

YEAR 2000 YEAR 2015 Our Goal

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