The Palestinian Coalition for a Safe Learning and Teaching Environment in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the United Nations Work and Relief Agency (UNRWA), continued the implementation of the activities of the Global Action Week as part of the Global Campaign for Education in Palestine. 

Starting the early morning, the majority of public and UNRWA schools in the West Bank implemented the Big Picture activity, where the children raised the theme of the campaign “Rights from the Beginning: Early Childhood Care and Education Now” via a number of activities addressing decision makers in Palestine. Children drew a big picture reflecting their aspirations and dreams of the model school and the educational system they aspire for. Additionally, there were a number of other activities implemented in schools through the school radios, where the students delivered a number of poems and stories that reflected their lives and aspirations. The messages of the children demanded their right of quality compulsory and free childhood education in a safe environment, free of economic and social discrimination. Accompanying school activities was recreational activities organized by the school, where each school determined the nature and format of these activities. 

The heads of departments of general education in educational directorates said that the majority of the schools in each directorate participated in the Big Picture activity via talking through school radios, and also by providing drama sketches that focused on children’s rights and the importance of early childhood care and education.    

It is worth noting that these activities are organized by the Palestinian Coalition for a Safe Learning and Teaching Environment, which includes more than 27 Palestinian organizations seeking to ensure a safe and motivating learning and teaching environment in cooperation with a number of politicians and educational and journalistic figures, and certainly the Ministry of Education and the UNRWA. The activities of the Global Campaign for Education were launched carrying the message of quality early childhood care and education.   

The activities organized in the Global Action Week in Palestine come in parallel with another 180 countries, as part of the activities of the Global Campaign for Education. The campaign was established in 1999 and includes a number of non governmental organizations and teacher’s unions in more than 120 countries. The campaign aims at supporting the right of access to education, as a primary right of human beings, and seeks to raise the awareness among citizens and build political will among governments to fulfill their promises of free public education for children.