Visit by the Commissioner for Children at San Andrea School
In 1946 the United Nations General Assembly started the United Nations Children's Fund to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries devastated by the Second World War. In 1989 UNICEF started the Convention on the Rights of the Child, legally binding countries to safeguard the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children. In 1990 its protection was spread to Maltese children with the ratification of the Convention.
In order to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Convention, the Commissioner for Children in Malta and her staff started a major project called 'Guginu's Tour' in order to explain to the children their rights according to the Convention in a child-friendly manner. On the 25th of November Guginu's Tour visited San Andrea School, giving the students of Early and Middle School the opportunity to learn about their rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Two Senior School students, Jake and Christian, actually formed part of the group that sang the theme song for Guginu's Tour.
The tour consisted of a trailer that was decorated from the inside with pictures depicting different facets of the Convention as well as a video screening, with the theme song running in the background, explaining to the children what the Convention meant. After the video screening the Commissioner answered the questions the students asked, then a team of talented animators further explained the Commissioner's explanation by means of a short play and a number of games, during which the students could interact with the project's mascot, Guginu the lion.
After the first few presentations the Commissioner for Children came to the Senior School where she visited a number of classes. Accompanying her on the tour of the school were Ms Claire Felice Pace (Head of Senior School), Mr Stephen Briffa (Assistant Head of Senior School), Ms Dorothy Lapira (Head of Early and Middle School), Jennifer Attard and myself, Emmanuel Buttigieg (Captain and Vice-Captain of San Andrea Senior School respectively). The Commissioner also visited the Energy Terrace, where Jennifer explained most of the exhibits there, each and every one of them a student's project. Before leaving, Ms Carmen Zammit signed the school's guest book and left a note of praise with the staff.
By Emmanuel Buttigieg, Vice-Captain San Andrea Senior School
