11/4/2003
The World's Biggest Lesson

The World's Biggest Lesson on 9 April was a resounding success with more than 1.3 million taking part, according to latest estimates. From the normally sober and highbrow surroundings of the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where the Director General presented the lesson to member states during the course of an official Executive Board meeting, Teresa Murtagh wrote: "We had great fun at our event yesterday. People genuinely enjoyed it. And that was the surprise."

Numerically speaking, Bangladesh has emerged as the biggest star of a very big show, with at least 450,000 children and adults across the country taking part, including students in at least 15,000 BRAC schools. NGOs in India also achieved at least double their original target of 100,000 participants and the national education campaign in Brazil reached twice its expectation of 20,000 participants.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) brought together hundreds of children and adults in New York to highlight the global realities of girls out of school.

The event to support the Global Week of Action, 6 to 13 April, was organized by the Global Campaign for Education – a worldwide alliance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and trade unions working for the achievement of universal basic education. The current record for the largest lesson, according to the Guinness Book of Records, was set in March last year when 28,801 children took part in a language class in the United Kingdom. GCE Chairperson Kailash Satyarthi congratulated everyone on their achievement and thanked them for their passionate support for the cause of girls' education, but reminded activists and educators that much remains to be done.

During this year’s education week, communities, children and organizations worldwide will rally to raise awareness of the millions of girls and women who are still being denied the right to go to school.