Today, over 115 million children have never set foot inside a school. The fact is that for children living in developing countries, the dream of a first day of school is yet to be realized. The daily realities of poverty, political instability, regional conflict, geography, and cultural or traditional values all play a role to varying degrees -- and the issue of gender disparity makes this fact even more staggering. Full and equal access to education (Article 26) as outlined in the 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights' and 'The Convention on the Rights of the Child' (Articles 2,3,28, and 29), has clearly been out of the reach of poor children -- and even more so in the case of girls. Nearly two-thirds of children who are denied a primary education are girls. In the least developed countries, nearly twice as many adult women than men are illiterate. (Source: UNFPA http://www.unfpa.org/icpd/10/icpd_ed.htm) If you happen to be a female, you are less likely to have access to a quality primary education and beyond -- contributing to the feminization of global poverty. Yet, there is hope despite this current state of affairs. 189 nations have pledged to meet 8 major Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. In doing so, nations hope to improve the social and economic development of all peoples. Included in these goals are those that address education and gender disparity: MDG 2: Achieve universal and primary education. MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women. Through the activities outlined in this lesson, students will become familiar with the current barriers standing in the way of educational opportunity -- especially for girls. They will watch clips from the WIDE ANGLE film 'Time for School' (2003) to understand the sense of urgency surrounding this issue, the potential benefits that can result from educating girls, and the ways that local communities are trying to address these problems. Note: This lesson focuses on MDG 2 and MDG 3. An introduction to the overall goals of the Millennium Project should be presented prior to this particular lesson.
These units, and the supporting resources of Global Words, aim to build the essential knowledge, skills and values young people need to participate actively, critically and creatively as global citizens. This curriculum integrates the teaching and learning of English, across strands of language, literature and literacy, with Global Citizenship Education, using explicit and exploratory teaching and learning activities. The four units use a range of text and text-types to address the themes of Sustainability, Refugees and migration, Neighbours, Asia/Pacific, and Indigenous peoples, with a focus on literacy with Geography and Human Society and its Environs curricula. All units of work include an overview, description of focus, four teaching and learning activities, and links to the curriculum content, strands, outcomes and indicators.
Subject:
Humanities, Science and Technology, Social Sciences
This variation on Bingo allows students to apply research skills and build knowledge of the interconnected issues underlying Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Using principles of peer education, students share their research with each other in a fun, interactive, and collaborative way.
For students who have had an introduction to the MDGs as a whole, this activity allows them to dig deeper into the issues of one particular Goal, while still developing an understanding of how all the Goals are connected.
In this lesson, students consider the value of setting goals for themselves and for their community, thinking critically about the idea of defining community and shared interests and concerns. This is an introduction to the concepts that underlie the Millennium Development Goals.
Taking Care of Earth Together allows students to explore pressing issues that relate to our shared responsibility to care for the environment for future generations, using picture books, spoken and multimodal texts, plays, poetry and songs. Unit elements include an overview, description of focus, teaching and learning activities, and links to the Australian Curriculum. A unit of work from a collection of online units with supporting resources for teachers. The unit explores the global citizenship topic of sustainability through the Australian Curriculum: English, and strands of language and literature, applied to a range of texts and text types.
Subject:
Humanities, Science and Technology, Social Sciences
By investigating the coverage of the Millennium Development Goals in the media, students learn about both the local and global presence of development issues, as well as gain an introduction to the way the media represents these issues in different parts of the world.
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