George Heriot’s pupils invited their MP, Sheila Gilmore, to receive their ‘sister’ messages.

Iona Holmes, Stephanie Cremona, Ellen Cranston and Saskia McCready wrote to tell us:

Sheila Gilmore MP

“In May 2011 S1 at George Heriot’s School took part in the programme “Send My Sister to School” Our aim was clear; to help ensure that by 2015 the government’s promise that all children would be educated became a reality. During this process we learnt about the barriers of education related to poverty and gender.

We thought about our ‘sisters’ in developing countries and explored the reasons why they couldn’t go to school. One of the main reasons was because boys get priority over girls and girls have to help around the home by selling products, fetching water and feeding the family. Some children are enrolled in school but cannot turn up on a regular basis because of family issues or poor water supplies.

We realised that action had to take place. We are lucky because we take school for granted whereas others would love to go and see it as a luxury.

This is why we contacted you to try and help us make a difference. We were given a diagram with two people; one was us and the other our ‘sister’ in a developing country. Next to the picture of us we wrote why we think these people should go to school, and beside the child in poverty we wrote why they wanted to, but couldn’t go to school. This is why we ask you to play your part and help us.”