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Alison Atkinson-Phillips During the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) meetings in Sydney, the focus was on regional security. However, many believe security and world peace come less from military strategies than on efforts aimed at increasing equality. Thankfully, politicians are already starting to hear the message.
During Literacy Week, over 10,000 small paper cut-out figures will complete their journeys from around Australia to meet the Prime Minister, John Howard, at Parliament House in Canberra. The cut-outs are the physical outpourings of adults and children who are sending a message to politicians as part of the “Send My Friend to School” campaign. The campaign was developed to help children and teachers engage with the issues and put pressure on world leaders to honour the second of the seven Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by world leaders in 2000: a commitment that all children receive a primary school education by 2015, and to raise gender equality in education. Over 120 countries are involved in the campaign and it has had a significant impact worldwide. In June 2007 the Australian Federal Government responded by pledging to double its current spending on education in the Asia-Pacific region by 2010, to increase by 10 million the number of children attending school, and to improve the quality of education for an additional 50 million children. This is a move that has support from all sides of politics and the delivery of the cut-out figures will be another reminder for politicians of the need to follow through on their promises. Many who have been involved in the campaign — particularly children — are passionate about giving children living in developing countries the same opportunities they have themselves. However, in terms of government strategies, another important reason for improving education is the flow-on effect in terms of regional peace and stability. In the AusAID brochure outlining the proposed new education funding, Alexander Downer states that literacy is “one of the most important elements of a stable and prosperous country.” “It’s good to see that the Australian parliament is starting to take this issue seriously and to see that it will impact on Australia as much as on our neighbouring countries,” says Kaylea Fearn who, as well as being a Transit Lounge blogger, is the Send My Friend to School co-ordinator for Australia. She is funded by the National Council of Churches and Catholic charity Caritas to travel around Australia speaking to students in religious education classes, school assemblies and social justice groups about why schooling and literacy are important. “At a basic level, people who have got food in the belly, a roof over their head and a doctor for their children to see — in other words who are basically content — are less likely to create conflict,” says Kaylea, explaining why it’s important for governments to understand the significance of education opportunities. One-third of the children that don’t attend school live in the Asia-Pacific region. This figure has implications in terms of regional security. Even in developed countries, unemployed young people often get caught up in violence and other crime. In a country where there in already political instability, the potential to get drawn into violence in much greater, something Kaylea saw first-hand when she visited the Solomon Islands last year. Another important way education helps with peacemaking is the conflict-resolution skills children learn at school. In a classroom, there are always lots of different personalities, and children have to learn to use words instead of their fists to resolve their problems. “People who have been to school often learn how to communicate, and often learn more about peaceful ways for conflict resolution,” says Kaylea. “People learn there are different avenues for dealing with problems. “Peace is so much more than the absence of war. It’s about people feeling fulfilled in their lives and to be able to go after the things they care about.” “It’s wonderful to see the children writing on their cut-out ‘friends’,” says Kaylea. “They will say things like, ‘look what I can do because I go to school. I hope you’ll be able to do that too.’” Another student wrote a message to politicians asking, “How did you get all the skills you have to become members of parliament? You went to school to learn all those skills to help people,” an important reminder about the importance of literacy in generating social change. “The independent thinking that is encouraged in Australian schools today is a valuable tool for life, because young people are encouraged to do things, and then they can follow that up for themselves. And the fact that I received so many of those little friends through the mail for the campaign shows they’ve gone away from class and thought about what they learned,” says Kaylea. “It was the education they already had that allowed them to think openly about the program and respond to it. “Critical thinking is important if we’re ever going to break away from what the western world has always taught us, which is just collecting and hoarding as much material possessions as you can, and it gives you the opportunity to think beyond that about the world — what do I feel passionate about — and that’s generally where the sharing comes in, because people get to a point of thinking that sharing what we’ve got — whether it’s ideas, ideals, food, education or resources — will be better for the world and better for them.”
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