Conflict, climate change, food crises, forced displacement and the aftermath ofCOVID-19 are obstructing children’s right to education on an unprecedented level.  Globally 222 million school-aged children are affected by emergencies and require urgent support. In 2023, Send My Friend to School is asking the UK Government to PREPARE, PROTECT, INVEST and ACT to protect children’s learning in emergencies.

Prepare, Protect, Invest and Act, so that every child can learn in times of emergencies

Education in emergencies (EiE) is life-saving and life-protecting. Safe and supportive learning spaces can provide children with the skills to escape crises, build their resilience and adaptive capacity to withstand hazards, and most critically restore their hopes for a brighter future. 

We are therefore calling for decisive action from the UK Government to PREPARE, PROTECT, INVEST and ACT to secure children’s learning in emergencies, The report sets out a series of actions for the UK Government to take to support crisis-affected countries to build and invest in inclusive, resilient and gender-responsive education systems that can withstand all hazards to protect the learning of all children during emergencies.

Each year, Send My Friend brings together 250,000 young people across the UK to campaign for the education of their friends across the globe. Their established schools programme provides everything teachers need to run the campaign in their classrooms, making sure that young people’s voices are heard by their MPs, and that their demands for the education of their friends in emergencies are acted on. 

Photos during the Send My Friend campaign pack development workshop Photo Credit: Mark Chappell

In order to visualise their requests, students are creating puzzle pieces, to represent the causes of and solutions to education in emergencies, and sharing these with their local MPs along with their calls to action, coming together in chorus, to say “Let My Friends Learn”.

Teacher Sinead Dixon from St Dominics school, Northern Ireland said “The Send My Friend Campaign is a wonderful opportunity for our students to be active global citizens. It raises awareness of global inequalities in education, but more importantly gives them the tools to do something about it. The campaign and its accompanying high quality and adaptable resources allow for students across a range of key stages and abilities to participate. Students develop skills including teamwork, leadership, communication, critical thinking skills”.

Send My Friend to school have released a new report, and accompanying campaign pack, which can be downloaded from our website www.sendmyfriend.org