BBC World Class, a new pan-BBC initiative, encourages schools to establish links between class rooms across the globe through its website. The website offers schools information about getting started with twinning and outlines the reasons for getting involved. It also provides a chatroom for teachers to share their experiences and swap advice and tips, to make the experience as rewarding as possible. BBC World Class is working with Africa Lives on the BBC - a unique collaboration between the BBC family of TV, radio and online services and culminating in a full week of programmes on BBC One devoted to African life. The G8 Conference, the Commission for Africa and the 20th anniversary of Live Aid, are the backdrop to Africa Lives on the BBC, making 2005 the year when the continent will dominate the headlines like never before. In an exclusive interview with BBC Radio Kent, Lord Puttnam, president of UNICEF UK and chair of the Teaching Awards, said: "I'm an avid supporter of the BBC's World Class scheme to create a thousand twinned schools between the UK and Africa. "I think it could have remarkable results, not just in Africa - where obviously it will make a lot of difference. But also in the way that young people in this country understand what's happening overseas and in Africa and, in understanding that, influence and affect their own lives."
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