STUDENTS presented Stroud MP Neil Carmichael with their ideas of how to tackle the number of children in the world not in education.

The two year 11 Stroud High pupils asked him to pass on their messages to the UK representatives at the United Nations as part of the Send My Friend to School Campaign.

Lauren Robbins, 15 and Charlotte Gillies, 15, were inspired to address the Conservative MP when they were learning about how the UN is trying to increase the number of children in education with their new Sustainable Development Goals.

Commenting on the project Charlotte said: "The reason we found this project so crucial to our Citizenship curriculum is because as girls in the UK, we are so privileged.

"Often this privilege blinds us and makes us oblivious to the suffering of other girls and women around the world.

"We were amazed that almost five and a half million girls in Nigeria were not in school, and especially that 31 million girls worldwide didn't receive an education."

The teenagers had written their ideas down on cut out people to represent world leaders. Their message was that it was time for officials around the world to take a stand about the importance of education.

Explaining the concept of the paper world leaders Lauren said: "We've produced these world leaders as a physical representative of our passion for decreasing the numbers of children out of education worldwide from 58 million to zero."

Addressing Mr Carmichael Charlotte said: "Learning about the Millennium Development Goals and the fact that the education goal has not been achieved has driven us to do something about it, and we believe you are vital in getting across the messages of over a hundred girls.

"What we are asking you to do is pass these on to the UK's representative for the UN meeting about the Sustainable Development Goals and for them to effectively put pressure on the governments of other countries to improve the quality of education in developing countries and ensure that girls are having an equal education to that of boys."

Esther Mounce, 16, who sits on the UK Youth Parliament, also met with Mr Carmichael to discuss the Make your Mark ballot which is being conducted in schools and youth groups across the country this month to decide on the youth priorities for the coming Youth Parliament.