"Our names are James and Beth and our goals are to make sure that all children have a quality education. In 2008 we won the Steve Sinnott award for Young Global Education Campaigners of the Year and as a result we have had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go on a fact-finding trip to Tanzania, Africa.

World leaders have promised to get all children into school by 2015 and we want to make sure that they live up to those promises. Many children are unjustly deprived of an education simply because of where they are born or who their parents are. We want to give these students a voice.

We met with many students in Tanzania who are lucky enough to go to school there, but we have personally seen that they have to endure excessive walks to school, overcrowded and run-down classrooms and harsh bullying, especially for girls. Some have to drop out of school and never get the chance to go back. These are ones who are doomed to a life of poverty and never get the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. This is wrong.

With a combined effort from politicians, teachers and parents we know that we can get an education for everyone and you can help too. Help those who have no voice by joining the Send My Friend to School Campaign and by asking your school to take part in the Big Read 2009, and together we will make a difference."

James Simmonds and Bethany Law
Stantonbury Campus, Milton Keynes
March 2009

More resources

• Watch the film from their trip
• Read Bethany and James' diary (PDF download)
• Trip report with photos (PowerPoint resource)
• A journalist from The Guardian also travelled with Bethany and James: read The Guardian report
• Picture gallery on The Guardian website: The struggle to get a primary education in Tanzania
• Check out Bethany's report for Bliss magazine
  

Photo: © Graeme Robertson