The next time you, or someone you know starts grumbling about how the bus is running 5 minutes late, take a deep breath and remember the following photos we’re about to show you. In our Western society, it’s so customary for us to look at going to school as a chore.
Yet in many other parts of the world, it’s not just a privilege but something worth risking your life for.
For children in third-world and developing nations, one of the only real ways to break the cycle of poverty is through a proper education. And to that extent, they are literally willing to cross mountains and rivers in order to try and make a better life for themselves and their family.
The following photos capture children from 18 different countries across the globe, as they make their journeys to school – wherever that happens to be.
It’s truly eye opening to see the extent to which these kids are willing to go (and is also great for making me feel guilty for all those times I used to play hooky).
1) Rizal Province, Philippines – Students have to cross the local river on inflated tires tubes.
2) Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia – Elementary students have to walk a tightrope 30 feet above a river.
3) Pili, China – To get to their boarding school, every term these children have to travel 125 miles through the mountains.
4) Cilangkap Village, Indonesia – A makeshift bamboo raft is how these students cross the Ciherang river to get to school.
5) Delhi, India – School kids pack horse carts to overcapacity in order to get home from school.
6) Kerala, India – Students travel by boat.
7) Sri Lanka – School girls crossing a plank on the wall of the 16th century Galle fort.
8) Pangururan, Indonesia – Students cross the local river on the roof of a wooden boat.
9) Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province, China – Getting to school by crossing an old bridge covered in snow.
10) Beldanga, India – School kids take tuktuks (rickshaws) to class.
11) Myanmar – A little school girl riding a bull.
12) India – Pupils make their way over an ancient bridge made of tree roots in the forest.
13) Riau, Indonesia – Canoeing to daily classes.
14) Rio Negro River, Colombia – Children have to take a 400m high zip line across the Rio Negro river for almost a kilometre.
15) Lebak, Indonesia – These kids have to cross a hazardous suspension bridge daily to get to class.
Did you notice that many of them are wearing uniforms? In many polaces they also have to pay a school fee in order to attend.