A politician has praised the pupils of Dodleston CE Primary School following a visit to the city.
Secretary of State for international development Justine Greening visited the village school with Chester MP Stephen Mosley to thank pupils for taking part in the Send My Friend to School campaign. As part of the campaign, children across Chester have been drawing little people – “friends” – and giving them to the city’s MP in the name of the millions of children in the world who do not have the chance to go to school.
The campaign, which is run by the UK coalition of the Global Campaign for Education, encourages children to contact their MP about the millions of children in the world who do not go to school. Mr Mosley had previously visited Cherry Grove Primary School in Boughton, Belgrave Primary School in Westminster Park and Upton Heath CE Primary School in Upton.
Speaking after the visit, Justine Greening said: “I want to thank Stephen for inviting me here today. This is clearly a fantastic local school where the pupils care not just about the local community, but people throughout the world less fortunate than themselves.
“I’ve been so impressed by the friends drawn by pupils at Dodleston. They are important reminders of the 55 million people who do not go to school in the world and the actions we must take to educate them.
“11 million pupils will be in schools because of UK aid by 2015 and I hope the pupils of Dodleston Primary are proud of their role in educating the world’s poorest children.”
Welcoming the minister to Chester Mr Mosley said: “I want to give my personal thanks to all the schoolchildren across Chester who have presented me with their friends. And I want to thank Justine for coming here today to meet the children of Dodleston.”
Welcoming the minister to Chester Mr Mosley said: “I want to give my personal thanks to all the schoolchildren across Chester who have presented me with their friends. And I want to thank Justine for coming here today to meet the children of Dodleston.”
As well as spending more money than ever before on international development, the UK Government is giving the British people a say on aid priorities. The UK Aid Match scheme invites charities working on international development to join and receive pound-for-pound funding from the government to match private donations. The scheme aims to give £120 million in match funding to development projects by 2016.
