They said it in 2018: inspiring quotes about the struggle to give every child an education

Main Image For Quotes
Clockwise, from top left, are the Thai schoolboys who were trapped in a cave; a teacher in Ghana who used old technology to demonstrate computers; and a Chinese boy whose frozen-hair picture went viral

Barriers to education, Children in conflicts, Discrimination of marginalised children, Refugees and internally displaced people, Right to education, Teachers and learning

Conflicts, refugee crises and discrimination mean getting every child in the world into school and learning is a huge challenge. Here are some of 2018's most memorable quotes about the struggle to give every girl and boy a quality education and protect them from harm.


Education is the closest thing to real magic that you can give a child. Magician Dynamo, speaking to world leader at a Brussels conference on Syrian refugees
Quotes Of The Year Dyamo On Syria

Dynamo and Theirworld President Sarah Brown prepare to speak at the conference (Theirworld)

Seeing is different from hearing. And when they read how we are living it will affect them ... they don't know how bad our living conditions are. 12-year-old refugee Baraa'a Anter, one of a group of Syrian child refugees in Lebanon who write letters to children in New York
Quotes Of The Year Syrian Refugees In Lebanon Write Letters
I’ve always been a dreamer and those circumstances made me even more determined to achieve my dreams. Syrian student Abdullah Kattineh, who did his studies on a mobile phone, goes to Cambridge University
Quotes Of The Year Scholarship To Cambridge

Abdullah – pictured with a medal at the International Chemistry Olympiad – received a scholarship to study at Cambridge University

We are starting the school year earlier because the Israelis want to destroy the school. So when they come to demolish it, we will be here. Amani Ali, 11, one of the Bedouin children who went back to school in the summer to protect their school and village from being bulldozed
Quotes Of The Year Palestine School
It is cold going to school but it’s not hard. Eight-year-old Wang from China, whose frozen-hair picture went viral when he walked to school in freezing temperatures
Quotes Of The Year Chinese Frozen Hair Boy
Then I will just draw the mouse with the cord and I would say this is the mouse, this is the body and this is the tail of the mouse Teacher Richard Appiah Akoto, who drew a computer on the blackboard because his school in Ghana didn't have the real thing
Quotes Of The Year Ghana Teacher Drawers Computers
Dear World Leaders, we're putting you on notice. For 130 million girls without an education. For one billion women without access to a bank account. For 39,000 girls who became child brides today. Celebrities including Meryl Streep and Oprah Winfrey tell world leaders it's time to tackle gender inequality and get every girl into school
Quotes Of The Year Celebrities Send Open Letter To World Leaders
He's a gem. He's good at both studying and sports... he's brought our school several medals and certificates from his achievements. School director Phunawhit Thepsurin on Adul Sam-on, a stateless schoolboy who captured hearts after being trapped in a cave with his friends in Thailand
Quotes Of The Year Thai Cave Boys

(Thai Government)

The fact that I understand the problems of the learners helps me to be able to assist them when they are sad because they cannot do something. Shéri Brynard, a teacher with Down's syndrome from South Africa
Quotes Of The Year South African Downs Syndrome Teacher

(Sheri Brynard)


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