AKA Maputo commemorates Universal Children's Day

On Friday, 20 November the students at the Aga Khan Academy Maputo commemorated Universal Children's Day through different activities. Junior School students were challenged to complete a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) project, and Senior School students completed a reflective activity. 

The JS students began their programme with a read-aloud to help the students think about the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international human rights treaty outlining the social, civil, economic, political, health and cultural rights of children. This was followed by the students engaging in a STEM competition that challenged them to research, plan and create a model of a new piece of playground equipment made of sustainable resources.

"STEM activities encourage our children to use a broad range of skills as well as to think creatively," Primary Years Coordinator Emma Wheatley said. "This was seen in the designs we received, which used different materials, suggested ways to support healthy lifestyles through play and highlighted the importance of play for all children."

For their reflective activity, the SS students were requested to select an article from the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child that resonated with them. With their article, the students were tasked to complete the sentence, 'I look forward to the day when all children...' by writing this on a poster or paper and taking a photo of themselves holding their statement. The students were also asked to list things they are grateful for and have access to in order to help the students understand the privileges or opportunities they have that other children might not have.

"The team wanted to take this opportunity to allow students to be reflective about children's rights, and what they as individuals could do to try and make some goals achievable sooner rather than later," Visual Arts teacher Rachael Odwyer said. "Goals such as ensuring that 'all children will have the right to an education,' that they will 'be protected from working in harmful environments,' and that 'all children will have access to clean drinking water,' - to name but a few!"

Click here to view the SS student's statements.