Dartmouth students pledge silence to make change

HALIFAX – Most classrooms are normally bustling with activity and conversation, but on Thursday, a Dartmouth junior high class went completely silent.

About 30 Grade 8 and Grade 9 students involved with the Free the Children group at Caledonia Junior High School pledged to remain silent for 24 hours to raise money for the We Are Silent campaign.

Gerard Bray, a staff adviser to the group, said the students pledged to be silent in person and online, meaning they were not using social media like Twitter or Facebook.

Bray said the campaign is meant to show support for those around the world who don’t have a voice.

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“Maybe those who don’t have the right to education, those who are bullied in our own schools, in our own community. It’s standing up for anybody that hasn’t had their voice heard,” he said.

Many students emphasized their pledge of silence by putting tape over their mouths.

Bray said it’s a tough pledge to hold for anyone, let alone a young student, but that the message it sends and the lesson it teaches is critical.

“To take pledges to remain silent for the whole day, which for junior high students is very challenging, makes the message that much stronger when they recognize and know how hard it is to stay silent for 24 hours.”

Students raised money for the Malala Fund, an organization named after Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban for her campaign for girls to have the right to an education.

Bray said that students at Caledonia Junior High School have raised approximately $600.

This is the first time the school has participated in the We Are Silent campaign.