Youngsters campaign to help their disabled buddies

Wednesday 24 September 2014

Jersey's primary schoolchildren who are campaigning to help give more disabled children around the world an education.

Youngsters from St Mary’s and Grouville School are taking part in the global Send All My Friends to School Campaign and have been busy making rows of paper children holding hands to hand over to the Island’s Assistant Chief Minister Paul Routier.

The buddy chains have become the campaign’s symbol uniting children all over the world.

Five pupils from the primary schools were chosen to meet Senator Routier and speak up for others who are still being denied an education – over 57 million children around the world are missing out on school.

Grouville School have been working on the campaign since February and St Mary’s primary signed up at the start of the term and are keen to become a Rights Respecting School.

St Mary’s Headteacher Maria Stegenwalner said: “A part of empowering children, is to give them the opportunities to see what they can do if they put their minds to it.  If you think about the low turnout of voters we have in Jersey, do we ever ask ourselves why are people disaffected?  It’s partly because they don’t think they can make a difference. 

“We focus on getting children to think about what they can do to make an impact, to change the world around them for the better.  Because this campaign focuses on other children throughout the world, in particular disabled children this year, it really resonates with our children, who reflect on what they have, and want other children to have access to learning.

“On the one hand the children have been learning about disabled children and their rights, and on the other they have been learning about what it is to have an opinion and how to voice it such a way as to be heard.”

Mrs Stegenwalner said the pupils will be able to voice their opinions through the school council, rights respecting schools team, eco-active team and peer mentor scheme. They will also be working with the Red Cross to develop their interpersonal and reasoning skills. The school also has plans to develop a link with a school in the Gambia so that the youngsters can find out more about sustainable living.

Senator Paul Routier, who also chairs the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission, said: “This is a hugely significant campaign and the work of the pupils and staff at Grouville and St Mary’s in continuing to promote the rights of children cannot be praised enough. Access to education is a basic right but one that currently is not able to be realised by many.

“The show of solidarity between pupils around the world is both inspiring and powerful and I’m proud that Jersey is part of it.”

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was extended to Jersey back in June and the States are now committed to protecting and upholding the rights of the Island’s children.

The UNCRC is an international agreement which was introduced by the UN in 1989 and sets out a list of rights for every child under 18 years old including:

• the right to a childhood, including protection from harm

• the right to be educated

• the right to be treated fairly, including changing laws and practices that are unfair on children

• the right to be heard, including considering children's views.