The View From My Study – February 28 2025
“Honourable Secretary General, peace is necessary for education. In many parts of the world… terrorism, wars and conflicts stop children going to their schools. We are really tired of these wars.”
Malala Yousafzai uttered these words on her sixteenth birthday, in July 2013, in an address to the United Nations Youth Assembly. Only nine months before she had been shot in the head by a Taliban gunman when he boarded her school bus but, remarkably, she survived the attack following intensive surgery in her native Pakistan and the UK. Her words are both powerful and inspiring for all educators and leaders with regards to justice and she deservedly became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner for her campaign-work which helped millions of girls to access education worldwide.
Most young people do not suffer the same trauma as Yousafzai, thankfully, but justice is important to all children because it shapes the world in which they grow and influences their future. Young people are quick to perceive an injustice and this can damage their trust in the adults and world around them. Life is not fair sometimes and children do need to learn this but we can strive for fairness in school and, by creating this, educate our children to take the notion into the wider world as the changemakers of the future.
We need our children to understand why justice helps to create opportunity and protects them from discrimination and exploitation. We need them to understand that, through justice, they can have a voice and feel heard. And, from this, we need them to place their trust in society so that they can engage positively and help to develop a safe and harmonious environment for the future.
We try hard at BG to cement this understanding in our pupils through our themed weeks, regular discussion and opportunities for reason and reflection. We have councils and positions of responsibility where pupils can make a difference and we encourage, through the BG Challenge, a sense of service in the older pupils so that they can role-model what it means to be a kind and caring community. We know that not everyone gets it right all of the time but it does not stop us from aiming high in being a fair and just environment.
