Mayor celebrates school linking with Africa

Press Release - Wednesday 19th April 2006

Photo opportunity: 2.30-4.30pm, Wednesday 26 April 2006, Islington Town Hall, Upper Street, London, N1.

The Mayor of Islington, Jonathan Dearth, is bringing together schools in Islington which have links with African schools for 'Celebrating our Links', at Islington Town Hall on Wednesday 26 April 2006 from 2.30 - 4.30pm.

Mayor Dearth said: "As part of my mayoral theme 'International In Islington', I'm delighted to be able to support this fantastic event, in which so many of our schools have established strong links with schools in Africa."

Children's author Ifeoma Onyefulu, who wrote "A is for Africa" and last year won the Children's Africana Book Award for best book for young children will be attending the event, together with Minister Counsellor for Education from the Ghanaian High Commission, Emelia Aning.

Children and teachers will make presentations about their links and there will be displays of letters, artwork and poetry that have been sent between schools here and Africa.

Mayor Dearth said: "I'm looking forward to learning and discovering more about how international we are in Islington. All year we have been celebrating 30 countries and regions of the world which have a strong link with Islington. In April, we are celebrating Southern Africa." The event is timed to coincide with the anniversary of South African Freedom Day on 27 April.

The event comes a few days after Gordon Brown's visit with Nelson Mandela to Mozambique where he asserted his commitment to boost education in Africa and meet the Millennium Development Goals' target of providing Education for All by 2015. He also talked about the importance of schools in this country forging links with schools in Africa.

11 schools in Islington are linked to schools in Africa through international development agency Link Community Development (LCD), more than in any other borough in London. They are linked to schools in Ghana, South Africa and Uganda. Through these links Islington teachers have visited African schools and African headteachers have visited Islington.

LCD UK Programme Director Anna Colquhoun said: "LCD works to improve the quality of education in Africa and raise awareness of development issues in the UK. LCD is proud to be working with Islington to create links with schools in Africa, which bring a range of educational benefits to both schools which is about two-way learning and sharing."

The Mayor of Islington, LCD and CEA@Islington hope this event will encourage other schools in Islington and the rest of the country to make links with schools in Africa. Interested schools should visit www.lcd.org.uk.

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. For more information, photographs or interviews please call Ben Miller on 020-7691-1821 or email ben@lcd.org.uk.

2. Link Community Development (LCD) is a non-profit organisation working in South Africa, Ghana , Uganda and Malawi on long-term development projects, providing ongoing training and support to over 1000 schools. LCD's patron is Archbishop Desmond Tutu and LCD is a registered charity in the UK. For more information, including how to link your school, visit www.lcd.org.uk.