Elstree Boys Support Education In Afghanistan

Elstree Boys Support Education in Afghanistan

Nico Rooth presents letter to Ministers at Houses of Parliament

On Thursday 24th November 2011, Anthony Liddell, Nico Rooth, Thomas Foster-Brown and Ravi Bhusate took part in an international event at the Houses of Parliament, supporting Afghan Connection.

The purpose of the event was to draw attention to the state of education in Afghanistan today both in terms of its achievements so far and future steps that need to be taken in order to fulfil the objective of Millenium Development Goal (MDG) 2. This is part of an EU-funded awareness project on ‘Afghanistan and the Millenium Development Goals’, organised by Afghan Connection, along with its partner organisations on this project, The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (Sweden), People in Peril (Slovakia) and the Jaan Tonisson Institute (Estonia).

The event started at St Martin’s Hall, St Martin’s in the Field, with a number of presentations on education in Afghanistan. This set the scene for the day. 150 children from European schools twinned with schools in Afghanistan attended the event; these children formed the core of participants. This large group then walked up White Hall to the Houses of Parliament where they attended a two hour question and answer session. Anthony, Nico, Thomas and Ravi were among the group . Other participants included some British Non-Governmental Organisations working in Afghanistan, Members of Parliament with a special interest in Afghanistan (including Alan Duncan MP, Minister for International Development) and a panel of experts on Afghanistan. Included on the panel was Mr Farooq Wardak, Afghanistan’s Education Minister and the man widely considered to be the front runner for the next Presidency of Afghanistan. Nico was one of the 15 children on the panel of experts, asking prepared questions. He asked the closing question: “How can we improve the infrastructure for schools in Afghanistan? “ One of the highlights of the day was when Nico then presented a letter to the two Ministers in a Commons Sub-Committee room.

The event was covered by the BBC on South Today (at lunchtime and in the evening), Newsround and the World Service. All the Elstree representatives were interviewed, with Nico and Ravi making the final cut. They spoke eloquently and confidently, and were a great credit to themselves and the school. If you would like to watch this, see below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15883586

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