PRESS RELEASE FRIEND OUR WORLD - THE LARGEST PEACE EVENT FOR SCHOOLS HAS COMMENCED

3 September 2013 Friend Our World, the worlds largest peace event for schools organized by Skoolbo, Peace One Day, Microsoft, Skype in the Classroom and Clubhouse News, has commenced. Friend Our World will unite millions of children from all over the world in friendship games of geography, languages and global citizenship throughout September with a special focus around International Day of Peace on 21 September. The event is open to all school children and completely free of charge. 8 children will be selected to represent children all over the world to present their messages of Peace to the United Nations in New York. There will also be tremendous teaching resources available along with the Friendly Schools Global Forum that brings together many of the worlds experts on anti-bullying. The sessions will live stream over YouTube as mass webinars in an interactive Q & A style. The Forum is designed to help teachers create friendlier and more cohesive schools with an overall theme of What works, what doesnt and whats promising? Its a great pleasure and honour to be part of the Friend Our World initiative. Microsoft strongly believes that technology in the classroom can make a difference in the lives of teachers and students enabling them to collaborate, develop critical thinking skills and connect to the world around them, Anytime Anywhere, said Pascal van den Nieuwendijk, Director, Public & Private Alliances, Public Sector, Asia Pacific at Microsoft Corporation. Wendy Norman, Head of Skype Social Good, said: Friend Our World is a great way to engage young people on key issues and values. We are happy to support this initiative through our global teacher community Skype in the Classroom, connecting students with young people in other countries for virtual cultural exchanges around peace. Friend Our World has received support from more than 60 NGOs and education institutions from all over the world including GEMS Education, The Varkey GEMS Foundation, GameDesk, Kids For Peace, Next Generation Global Education, VolunTEEN Nation, India Literacy Project, Project PeacePal, Ripple Kindness Project, AIME, British Schools in the Middle East, Technapex, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, Peacemakers (West Midlands Quaker Peace Education Project), The Peace Museum, Youth Entrepreneurship Alliance, Children Sports International, Peace First, Lien Foundation, World CSR Day, Singapore Kindness Movement, Social Innovation Exchange, Pasos Peace Museum, The Hunting Happiness Project, South East CDC Singapore, YKAI The Indonesian Child Welfare Foundation, Bullies Out, Teach For All, EdTech Digest, Hawker Brownlow Education, Friendly Schools PLUS, LittleBigHelp, The Council of International School, Yayasan MENDAKI, Blessings In A Bag, The Dragonfly Community Foundation, Project Anti-Bully, The Anna Kavanaugh Charitable Foundation, Global Exchange, CIRCLE, Edith Cowan University, The National AfterSchool Association, Nigerianschoolsonline, A Crane A Day, Crimson Knowledge, Peace For Education, University of Wollongong, EdComs and Research Through Gaming, Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP), generationOn, EdComs, The Cybersmile Foundation, Bloggers For Peace, Peace Day LIVE, Society For Compassion and Peace, WeAreTeachers, Social Innovation Park, EOTO World, Connected Nation, Playing For Change, Cord, The World Childhood Foundation and The South Africa National Peace Project. Friend Our World also welcomed 50 Peace Ambassador Teachers who have deep passion in spreading messages of peace and friendship.

For more information, please visit www.FriendOurWorld.org

About Peace One Day Peace One Days objective is to institutionalise Peace Day 21 September, making it a day that is selfsustaining, an annual day of global unity, a day of intercultural cooperation on a scale that humanity has never known. In 2013, through initiatives and collaborations with various parties, Peace One Day will set out to encourage organisations and individuals to take specific actions to reduce violence around the theme: Who Will You Make Peace With? For more information, please visit www.peaceoneday.org/ About Microsoft Partners in Learning Microsoft Partners in Learning is a commitment by Microsoft to help education systems around the world. Since its inception in 2003, the Partners in Learning program has reached more than 210 million teachers and students in 119 countries. Partners in Learning helps educators and school leaders connect, collaborate, create and share so students can realize their greatest potential. The online Partners in Learning Network is one of the worlds largest global professional networ ks for educators, connecting millions of teachers and school leaders around the world in a community of professional development. For more information, please visit www.microsoft.com About Skype in the Classroom Skype in the classroom is a free and easy way for teachers to open up their classroom. Teachers everywhere are using Skype to help their students meet new people, discover new cultures and connect to classes from around the world, all without leaving the classroom. Skype in the classroom is a free global community that invites teachers to collaborate on classroom projects where they might use Skype, and share skills and inspiration around specific teaching needs. For more information, please visit http://education.skype.com/ About Clubhouse News Clubhouse News is a US based family-safe news, talk & information inter-network designed to enlighten, educate and entertain kindergarten kids through 8th grade. Clubhouse Newss mission is to provide the best quality news, current events, and informational family programming possible, while inspiring young minds, curiosity & thought through the power of knowledge & information. About Skoolbo Skoolbo is a team of educators and developers committed to creating innovative and free educational programs for children. The teams ultimate goal is to lift up educational outcomes worldwide. The Skoolbo dream Our dream is that every child learns to read and gains confidence with numbers as these are life's essentials. We believe technology can dramatically help and that the best way to do it is to make it lots of fun and to make it FREE! For more information, please visit www.skoolbo.com