The global BIG Read will take place across the world on April 22nd 2009. Pupils and teachers are invited to get involved to promote the importance of a good quality, free and public education. The campaign has so far brought together hundreds of thousands of students in the UK, who are all determined that the government should keep the promise it made in 2000, that every child can go to school, no matter where they live in the world. 6,000 schools have already signed up to take part.

Send my Friend to School is the UK part of the global movement, the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), who believe that education should be a top priority. There are currently 75 million children who do not have access to education worldwide, including 35 million in Africa, 28 million in Asia and 12 million children in the rest of the world.

So what can you do? Send My Friend to School is keen to get as many people involved in the BIG Read as possible. Firstly, sign up and register for a Teachers Pack, which contains a free DVD, posters, stickers, postcards and teachers guides. Put your school on the map and chart your progress by joining the campaigning community. Get your class and your friends inspired by reading The BIG Book, which has many inspirational contributions from Nelson Mandela and others. You can then design your own No.10 Front Door with a message for the Prime Minister asking him to keep the promise of education for all. Finally, why not organise a fantastic BIG READ event and invite your MP into school?

Our right as citizens in this country allows us to campaign on these issues. We have the power to influence the government by asking questions and putting forward requests. If everyone does their bit, we still have time to get all children into school by 2015. Richer countries need to give a lot more aid money, about three times as much as they are currently giving.

Philippa Lei, Chair of the Global Campaign for Education UK policy group said: ‘We want to see the UK government living up to its spending commitment and prioritising countries properly. We are also urging the government to use its influence with other donor countries to commit their fair share of the funding gap as well as tackling institutions like the World Bank and the IMF to remove damaging conditions.”

To order your pack www​.sendmyfriend​.org/​t​h​e​-​b​i​g​-​r​ead