Today is the International Children’s Rights Day, a United Nations holiday that celebrates the creation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.  Unfortunately millions of children lack the most basic rights such as access to education,, food, water and lives free from war.  According to UNESCO, 77 million kids worldwide do not attend school. School is one of the best ways to improve all aspects of kids lives, including creating better economic opportunities, improved health outcomes and empowering girls.

In honor of this important holiday, I am highlighting the work of Jewish World Watch, an instrumental organization for the Social Action campaign for our film, Darfur Now.  While the organization is only three years old, it has quickly become a leader in humanitarian relief, advocacy and education for Darfur.  One of their critical programs–backpacks– extends well-beyond providing immediate humanitarian relief to millions of refugees. It helps to build long-term infrastructure and educational opportunities to thousands of Darfurian refugee children.  Their backpack program will provide school supplies to 14,000 children in  the Oure Cassoni refugee camp.  The contents of the backpacks provides more than just learning tools; these children will be given educational opportunties and safe-spaces in their otherwise chaotic, war-ridden lives.  As victims of war and violence, these children lack the most basic rights as children and human beings.  takepart today to support the backpack program which will give these Darfurian kids resources and hope for a better future.

(photo: vonbergen.net)

There is an inspriring story in the New York Times about how more highschool and even elementary school students are getting involved with humanitarian efforts.  The story highlights student activism and volunteer prjects around the nation including the story of Rachel S. Rosenfeld:

Rachel is a high school junior in Harrison, N.Y., who came down with a painful intestinal ailment that forced her to miss the entire 2006-7 school year. So she resolved that if she couldn’t go to school herself, she could at least help other kids who wanted to.

From her sickbed, Rachel sold T-shirts and solicited contributions to build a 316-student elementary school in rural Cambodia. Borrowing an idea from university fund-raising, she offered naming opportunities: for $25, donors could buy chairs to be named for them. All told, she raised $57,000, which was channeled through an aid group, American Assistance for Cambodia.

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Yikes! The AP reports that seventeen of the nation’s 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland. The report released Tuesday by America’s Promise Alliance, found that in the nation’s largest cities only about half of the students in public school systems receive diplomas whereas students in suburban and rural public high schools were more likely to graduate than those in urban public high schools.

Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma and about 1.2 million students drop out annually.
“When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it’s more than a problem, it’s a catastrophe,” said former Secretary of State Colin Powell, founding chair of the alliance.
His wife, Alma Powell, the chair of the alliance, said students need to graduate with skills that will help them in higher education and beyond. “We must invest in the whole child, and that means finding solutions that involve the family, the school and the community.” The Powell’s organization was beginning a national campaign to cut high school dropout rates. [AP]

A good education starts with a good teacher. The PBS documentary The First Year offers some insight into the challenges that teachers face when

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The days of getting a hall pass to use the school pay phones are long gone - now students and parents are fighting to keep cell phone use alive and well in their schools. Parents say that their kids need to be able to call home quickly in case of emergencies, while administrators see cell phones as distractions and a method of cheating.

A group of students enrolled in a program called “Model City Council” decided to have their own vote on the issue recently, narrowly voting in favor of allowing the phones in school buildings. The program is a run by the City University of New York and lets students engage in a very realistic governmental process, for more information on the program, click your way over here.