Send my Sister to School

The Steve Sinnott Award for the Young Global Education campaigner for 2009 was announced just before Christmas and went to James Simmonds and Bethany Law, both 14 years old, from Stantonbury Campus in Milton Keynes.

The two committed individuals, and their teacher, now have the chance to travel out to a developing country and report back on the progress of the Education Millennium Development Goals. On their return they will speak to politicians, the media and their peers and have the chance to work towards turning some of their own campaigning ideas into reality.

James said: “All the usual exclamations such as “over the moon” and “on top of the world” accurately describe how we feel about winning the competition, being able to go to another country and being in newspapers, but the real significance for us is having the opportunity to give students in another country what we take for granted in the UK – a serious education. This is what drives us and it’s unbelievably rewarding to know that our work will serve a higher purpose.”

Beth: “We have always dreamed of experiencing first hand how students in other countries feel about their education rather than experiencing it through other peoples’ eyes. We hope the trip to Tanzania will help us to bring ideas to the campaign that ensure that what we do here in the UK will make a real difference to students’ education out there.”

The award scheme was set up last year by the Global Campaign for Education following the wishes of Steve Sinnott’s family. During Steve’s time as General Secretary of the NUT he was a passionate supporter of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), which believes that education is the route out of poverty.

Janet Convery, Chair of the Campaigns group for GCE UK said: “James and Bethany won the award as a result of having some innovative campaigning ideas, excellent presentation skills and a real passion for this issue.

“All of the judges were extremely impressed with standard of the applications and we do want to thank everyone who took part. We are delighted that there are so many young global citizens out there and hope they will continue to feel inspired to work towards the end of the global education crisis and be part of the Send My Friend to School Campaign. “

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