First Lady Michelle Obama is a known advocate of girl’s education, and her most recent efforts has focused on Pakistani girls.
Last week she announced that the U.S. would be giving a pledge of $70 million to Pakistan, which would go towards educating 200,000 young girls there.
This money would be used to build new schools, improve facilities, and provide training as well as scholarships to Pakistani girls. Kalsoom Nawaz Sharif, the wife of Pakistani Prime Minister, and her daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif, joined Mrs. Obama in Washington D.C. for the announcement.
This move is part of the First Lady’s new initiative called Let Girls Learn, which was founded upon the idea that “a girl with an education can shape her own destiny, lift up her family, and transform her community”.
Currently, there are 62 million girls not in school, and Mrs. Obama wants to change that. Officials say that girls in developing countries are less likely to attend schools, with reasons ranging from poverty to community customs.By investing in young girls education, we are investing in our future.
“There are millions of girls who have this potential, and we’re not investing in them. We’ll do that together,” said the First Lady.