School in a Bag

School in a Bag (SIAB) provide bright red rucksacks full of essential resources that enable poor, orphan, vulnerable and disaster affected children worldwide to write, draw, colour, calculate, express themselves, eat, drink, wash and above all, learn. Our first SchoolBags were distributed in Swaziland in 2009, since then, over 140,000 SchoolBags have been delivered in 52 countries.

www.schoolinabag.org Fundraise for us

hello@schoolinabag.org

01935 849160

Registered charity no. 1186357

Member since September 2021

Latest News

Gift SchoolBags for Christmas!

If your business is looking for a sustainable gift for either your customers or your staff (or both!), then imagine gifting them a SchoolBag which is unique to them, they can track it to find out where in the world it has gone, AND you will be helping a child achieve their dreams of an education.

A SchoolBag costs just £20 and that includes all the contents and transport to get it to the child. We can inform you of the SchoolBag numbers, or email the recipient directly with their gift card and their personal numbers - it's entirely up to you!

A SchoolBag really does make a difference to a child's life. Whether they live in poverty and can't afford the equipment to go to school, or they are a refugee and have been displaced from their home with little more than the clothes they're in, you can help us to help make a difference and transform a child's life through education.

To Gift a SchoolBag, just click here: https://www.schoolinabag.org/shop

Thank you.

About us

Across the world over 260 million children are unable to access an education. It is also estimated that more than 617 million – or six out of ten – children and adolescents of primary and lower secondary school age do not achieve minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics.

School in a Bag was originally developed as an initiative by the Piers Simon Appeal, a registered charity set up in memory of Piers who died in the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. After operating within the Piers Simon Appeal for more than 10 years, the work of School in a Bag was transferred to a new incorporated charity in 2019 to aid its further development and expansion.

A typical SchoolBag contains: 12 pencils, 10 biro pens, 12 colouring pencils, a maths set, ruler, pencil case, 6 exercise books (line/square/plain), a water bottle, a LunchBox with a Spork and a hygiene kit comprising of a toothbrush, toothpaste, flannel, soap and washable facemask. In some countries the SchoolBags also contain a LifeStraw, which provides 1000 gallons of microfiltered safe drinking water lasting up to 5 years.

We have two delivery mechanisms to get SchoolBags to those who are most in need. We either source and pack them in the UK and ship them directly to the area of need for one of our partners to deliver to recipients; or, we work directly with our partners in the field through our ‘in-country’ model, helping them to source and pack goods obtained locally to our requirements.

Our ‘in-country’ model is particularly effective at getting SchoolBags into more difficult areas where traditional shipping and distribution routes are not available. It also enables us to develop strong relationships with our partners who source the supplies and to invest in the local economy.

Our SchoolBags have a unique identifier number which enables complete transparency for the donor. When a SchoolBag is funded, the donor is allocated a unique number which is placed in a special slot on the front of the bag, and they can then track its journey to the final recipient via our website - https://www.schoolinabag.org.

As an example, the photographs below show two of our UK packed SchoolBags with their donors, numbers 16105 and 16106 and then with their recipients in The Gambia.

Our SchoolBags provide children with essential learning tools, enabling them to obtain an education and a chance of a life out of poverty. Our water bottle and lunchboxes allow them to access water and food away from home, keeping them in school all day and improving their health and ability to learn. Our hygiene kits help them keep safe in these unprecedented times and our Lifestraws provide safe, clean drinking water which can ultimately save their lives.