When the schoolchildren wake up to the first rays of sunshine, the temperature is already over 30 degrees. They live in the Danakil desert in northeast Ethiopia, near an active volcano, in a region which is the world's hottest on average. Amongst these children are 6-year-old Looita and his sister Khadiga.

Every morning, the three sisters climb into their log-boat in order to row to school. They live on the east coast of Nicaragua, one of the world's poorest countries, and the youngest of them has just turned five; the oldest is nine. They row across the Rio Escondido. Not only is it one of the largest rivers in the country, it is simultaneously one of the most dangerous routes to school.

The ice covering the river is treacherous and ever-changing in appearance. Despite this, Tuguldur has to find a suitable point at which to cross the river. The 10 year old nomadic boy rides his horse alone to school and each time must cross the frozen Tunkhel river in the north of Mongolia. Because the sun has softened the ice on parts of the river's surface, he can't trust the ice everywhere.

Every Monday, little Lorenzo struggles alone as he makes his way over slippery scree and past steep canyons. And all this just so he can go to school and receive something to eat there. The 6 year old lives in the extensive Sierra Madre Occidental. This is the home of his people, the Rarámuri. These indigenous peoples live hidden in the mountains and have hardly any contact with the outside world.

They live in Papua New Guinea, an island in the Pacific Ocean, in the middle of one of the world's largest rain-forests. And some of them take a route to school which will blow your mind. That's certainly the case for 8 year old Junior and his cousin Ruth. Their journey in the so-called 'Land of 1000 Rivers' is a five-day one which leads the students through jungles.

The children from Madibago in the southern Philippines have one of the most spectacular and dangerous ways to school in the world. Some walk alone through the jungle for hours, others risk their lives, in order to make it past a steep face of rock and boulders, overgrown with moss and tree roots.

The Yungas Valley in Bolivia: a unique landscape, where the Andes Mountains meet the Amazon Rain Forest. In this remote section of one of the poorest countries in South America, children have a very long and incredible dangerous walk to school ahead of them. All for one goal: education - for a better life.

In northern Colombia, more than 180 miles north of Medellín, the landscape is marked by water and seemingly endless expanses. Every day, the children who live there face this rough, unpredictable wilderness - with just one goal in mind: making it to school. Because this is their chance to break out of poverty and create a better life. Like the ten year old Kendys and the other schoolchildren.