The Young Ambassadors scheme is part of the Global Campaign for Education’s Send My Friend to School initiative.
There are still 59 million children around the world who are not in education and the Global Campaign for Education is seeking to hold governments to account for the Millennium pledge to provide universal education.
The idea behind the Young Ambassadors initiative is to raise awareness and encourage young people in the UK to get involved in the campaign.
The Young Ambassadors for 2015 were George Watts and Emily Pemberton from Ysgol Gyfun Plasmawr in Cardiff, who visited Ghana earlier this year to investigate the challenges that girls face to education.
For 2016, the winning pair will visit Kenya on a fact-finding mission with Deaf Child Worldwide, the global arm of the National Deaf Children’s Society, to discover some of the barriers still denying millions of children their right to a quality education.
The two year 10 pupils will visit projects run by Deaf Child Worldwide and meet deaf children, teachers, government officials and charity workers in urban and rural parts of the country.
They will explore what support is needed to ensure deaf children can achieve in line with their hearing classmates.
In Kenya, most deaf children have no technological support, such as hearing aids. Those who do go to school are often in classes with up to 50 pupils, where the majority of teachers have never received any deaf awareness training.
Leaving school with no education or communication skills often commits them to a life of poverty.
Following the trip, the winners will share their experiences to help support the Send My Friend to School campaign. Their diary from the trip will also be published in SecEd.
Nicola Cadbury, education campaigns manager at Send My Friend to School, said: “We are looking for two exceptional young people who have the commitment to help us drive the campaign throughout 2016. Of the 59 million children still missing out on education it is girls, children in conflict areas and children with disabilities that are missing out most.
“Over a third of all children missing out on education have a disability. This award is a fantastic opportunity for two young people determined to make a difference. The trip to Kenya will help shed some light specifically on the challenges that deaf children face in accessing and completing school.”
The competition – known as the Steve Sinnott Award – was set up following the sudden death of in 2008 of Mr Sinnott, the general secretary of the National Union of Teachers and a passionate advocate of global education.
The award is now funded by GCE UK and the NUT. The deadline for applications is November 16.
For details, visit www.sendmyfriend.org/young-ambassadors/
The Campaign for Global Education: Key facts
- Around a third of children missing out on school have a disability.
- One in 10 primary aged children are missing out on education.
- More than one in four children in developing regions entering primary school are likely to drop out.
- Nearly half of the 59 million out-of-school children of primary school age live in conflict-affected areas.
- There are still 31 million girls of primary school age who have never been to school.
- If the current pace continues it will be 2086 before all children are in school and learning.
- Over the past 15 years, 50 million more children have enrolled in school across the world
- Rwanda has the highest primary school enrolment rates in Africa. For both boys and girls, it is on track to achieve universal access to primary education this year.