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Find out more »06-October-2006
Global poverty education is being promoted to the national school curriculum in the lead up to Children’s Week 2006 by international children’s development agency Plan.
Two new initiatives aim to build relationships between young people in Australia and the developing world and increase knowledge and understanding of global poverty issues.
Global Connections
Global Connections brings together groups of Australian secondary school students with their peers in the developing world; specifically Indonesia. The students aged from 11-20 years exchange letters, photos, video, art work, video conferences and conversations.
Plan’s Global Connections Coordinator Samantha Ratnam says: “Through this program, we have engaged students on global issues and these young people have developed powerful personal connections with a country many Australians find threatening. Their conversation topics range from terrorism to dating.”
The schools and groups enrolled in Global Connections are Thornbury High School, Balwyn High School and Albert Park College – all from Melbourne. And three groups of young people from Jakarta, Surabaya and Dompu in Indonesia.
“I got a lot of motivation to always strive for a sense of solidarity between one person and another, it’s true that we are different but in friendships, it doesn’t matter if we are rich or poor. We don’t discriminate,” writes a 15-year-old Indonesian boy at the Tangerang Juvenile Correctional Institute, Jakarta. His letter was exchanged with Year 9 students from Thornbury High School.
The Thornbury students wrote back to their peers at Tangerang telling them about life in Australia. “As easy as it may seem, life does get pretty complicated here. To make a lot of money, you need to work really hard… Do have any hobbies…? What do you get fed in Indonesia? … As you can see we’re asking heaps of questions, but we’re just so curious,” writes a Year 9 Thornbury student.
Ms Ratnam says that now with the pilot program completed, Plan is hoping to expand Global Connections to connect young people from other Australian schools with their peers from other developing countries.
New text for secondary students
Action on Global Poverty: A Guide to Making a Difference is a unique new curriculum resource aimed directly at students and teachers introducing the causes and consequences of global poverty in a lively and informative way.
Ian Wishart, national executive director of Plan in Australia says that the Global Connections program and the new education resource Action on Global Poverty are aimed squarely at raising the issue of global poverty in Australian classrooms.
“Despite crowded curricula, Plan believes global poverty needs to be discussed and studied by Australian students,” Mr Wishart says.
Action on Global Poverty is priced at $15 per copy or a class sets of 25 books is $190 and is available from Plan.
“Plan involves young people in everything we do, so it makes sense that they should study poverty and ‘meet’ children in the developing world,” says Mr Wishart.
"We certainly think there should be room in the curriculum for this.”
Celebrating Childhood Exhibition
During Children’s Week an exhibition of the artwork and media exchanged as part of the Global Connections Program will be on show at Gallery 15@15W as part of Art for A Cause; 15 William Street, Melbourne. The launch will take place on Friday October 20 at 10.15am.
The exhibition of photos, letters and video footage will be attended by over 100 students. Interview and photo opportunities for the media will be available. The exhibition is then open from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday from October 23 to 31.
Tim Cansfield-Smith
Plan Australia Media & Communications Manager
Phone: 03 9672 3656
With thanks to AMP Capital Investors for generously providing Gallery 15 for this exhibition.
