SOUTH Dorset MP Richard Drax swapped politics for primary school as he returned to the classroom to support a national campaign.

Mr Drax visited St Andrews Primary School in Weymouth on Friday morning as part of the national Send My Friend to School campaign, which aims to get more children worldwide into primary school.

In 2000 world leaders promised universal primary education by 2015, but 58 million children are still out of school - and girls, children in conflict areas and children with disabilities that are missing out most.

At the current rate of progress it will be 2086 before every child worldwide gets an education.

The campaign is this year asking young people to ‘step into the shoes of world leaders’ and tell their local MPs how they would deliver a better future for the world’s children.

At St Andrews, pupils told MP Richard Drax what decisions they would make to get the remaining 58 million children worldwide into primary school.

Freda Ellis, teacher at St Andrews, said: “The whole school have been learning about the barriers to education for millions of children in the developing world.

“They have really identified with some of the difficulties children their age around the world face in their struggle to get to school.

“It’s been fantastic to see how much they’ve enjoyed stepping into the shoes of world leaders and trying to make a difference for children that don’t have the opportunities they have.

“Every child created a model of a world leader and covered them with ‘If I were a world leader’ messages to tell politicians what needs to be done.

“The children gave these to Mr Drax to deliver to No10 to remind the UK government of their promise of universal primary education.”

Hundreds of MPs are expected to take part in the campaign during 2015, which will involve half a million young people across the UK.

World leaders will gather this September in New York to decide how to tackle global poverty over the next 15 years.

Philippa Dillon, campaign manager for the Send My Friend to School campaign, said: “We are delighted that pupils at St Andrews Primary School took part in this day of action and invited MP Richard Drax in to hear their passion and determination.

“Already, we have more than 4,300 schools involved in our campaign speaking out for every child’s right to go to school.”

Schools are invited to sign up now for a free schools pack to teach about this important global issue at sendmyfriend.org.

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