Director of Identity 

International Day of the Girl and the 'Best Foot Forward Campaign' 

 On Monday morning we welcomed our staff and students back to school for the commencement of Term 4, anticipating all the good and challenging things we have ahead of us as we as we head towards the end of an extraordinary year. Monday also marked the International Day of the Girl and this year the theme is "Digital Generation. Our Generation."  As a Catholic school in the tradition of Edmund Rice this will be an important time for us to reflect on the many things that are good for us and the ways in which we can help to make things good for others. 

The International Day of the Girl and its timely theme given Covid 19, reminds us that while we enjoy a great amount of our learning, communicating, and socialising using digital technologies, many girls around the world do not have access to the same digital resources as we do and this puts them at a huge disadvantage in education, health, socialisation, and safety. Despite these facts, they are often the ones to challenge us and inspire us, from Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai to Swedish climate champion Greta Thunberg, from Aboriginal Wimbledon Champion Ash Barty to the young girls at the Mary Rice Centre in Kenya, they have paved their own way and inspired other girls to follow in their path. At home and overseas girls are driving change and demanding gender equality, and technology is a crucial tool to support their work, activism, and leadership.

Malala Yousafzai uses technology to promote her organisation the Malala Fund which invests in education advocates and activists who are challenging the policies and practices that prevent girls from going to school in their communities. In 2020 she was also able to complete a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford despite spending most of the year in lockdown. 

In 2018 at the age of only 15, Greta Thunberg started protesting outside the Swedish parliament holding a handwritten sign saying, "School Strike for Climate". Her small campaign to pressure her government to meet carbon emissions targets had a global effect, thanks to social media and continues to inspire thousands of young people across the world to organise their own School Strikes for Climate Justice. This Friday many students will strike in rallies around the world, including Australia, and in many places, these strikes will be held as online events. From one educational activist to another, Malala said of Greta, ‘She’s the only friend I’d skip school for’… and she used the digital platform Twitter to say it.

Next month on November 12, Edmund Rice Foundation Australia will be hosting their online event, A Day of Giving for their Best Foot Forward Campaign which seeks to address the disadvantage of girls in education and access to digital resources.  This will be a great opportunity for all our boys to help ensure their sisters around the world, enjoy the same opportunities and resources that we often take for granted but would struggle to live without. 

More information about Edmund Rice Foundation’s Best Foot Forward Campaign can be found at: https://bestfootforward.org.au/