Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World

Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World — page 1
E ducation f o r Everyone (cid:60)ou’ve probably heard a million times that school is important It is And not just because it can help you get your dream job someday Education gives people power It gives them the knowledge they need to make good decisions It gives them a voice to demand that their governments do a better job It gives them the confi dence and the skills to change the world around them Education is so important that the United Nations says it is a basic human right (cid:48)(cid:76)(cid:86)(cid:86)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:3)(cid:50)(cid:88)(cid:87) Unfortunately just because education is considered a human right that doesn’t mean every kid gets to go to school According to UNICEF there are more than 100 million children around the world who have never been to school Most of these kids live in developing countries where there isn’t always enough money and resources to build schools Even when there are schools millions of kids still get left out In some cases it’s because their families live too far away from the schools or because they can’t afford to send the children to class instead of work In other cases the kids aren’t allowed to go to school because of their gender their background or their citizenship And it’s not just kids in developing countries who get left behind Kids in developed countries live in all kinds of circumstances that can make it tough to go to school the traditional way Some kids live in remote areas or in areas hit by natural disasters Some have special physical needs Others fi nd it hard to learn in traditional classrooms following traditional lessons (cid:41)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:36)(cid:81)(cid:86)(cid:90)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:3) The good news is that many amazing people around the world aren’t willing to sit back and let kids miss out on an education These people are asking What do we need to create so these kids living here in these conditions can learn And then more important they’re answering the question by creating incredible schools like the ones in this book 44