Annan, Bellamy Join New York Schoolkids in the Big Lesson

UNICEF's Ziad Sheik writes: The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, welcomed some 350 school children from the New York City area to UN Headquarters on 9 April, in a special event organized by UNICEF and the US Fund for UNICEF as part of the Global Week of Action for Girls' Education. UNICEF's Executive Director Carol Bellamy , striding up and down the aisles with microphone in hand, moving from eager student to eager student, transformed a packed, formal UN conference room into a buzz of challenging questions and answers about the facts of girls' education in countries around the world.

In his welcome to the house of the people, the Secretary-General reinforced the main message of the day: that to ensure health, peace and equality, the classrooms of the world have to be full of girls as well as boys. His remarks were expanded throughout the morning by a team of teachers including Mrs. Nane Annan who spoke about her personal experiences of meeting young girls from around the world and appealed to the children to stay involved with the issues of children's rights and girls' education, UNICEF Special Representative Angelique Kidjo who officially led the lesson part of the morning, and Carol Bellamy who returned to the stage at the end to lead the group in a pledge of Go, Girls !!! Education for every child.

Somewhat cautiously at first, but quickly picking up their confidence, the students expressed their opinions on a range of issues including the nature of human rights, the importance of a good education, and why girls are sometimes treated differently to boys. Many of their questions focussed on what can be done to get more girls into school.

The day was part of UNICEF's broader initiative to get as many girls as boys into school in 25 priority countries around the world by 2005: the "25 by 2005 Girls' Education Campaign."