Restless Development- Girls Education Forum
Helloooo friends!
I hope you have had a wonderful summer so far, Britain has even had the fortunate spell of sunshine for a whole weekend! (Thats a big deal!)
I have had a busy few weeks, and it led me to think about my future. Which is something everybody has to do at some stage, for some it is in the shower or in bed late at night. For me it is on a train.
Since I was sixteen I have been volunteering, I have a fire for it, a passion. I won't go into it in the article but feel free to read my previous one (My Greatest Achievements).
I have been with Restless now for over 2 years, it has been a rush of a journey, it constantly pushes me to be a better person, to inspire more people, to encourage, to teach, to develop myself and others around me. It is constantly making me stronger, louder, and more determined than ever. I recently went to the Girls Education Forum, which was just brilliant. Based in central London, hundreds of people (including speakers from across the world) came together to discuss the importance of girls education. It was fascinating to see various challenges girls face, something I never truly considered. For example, mentally and physically disabled girls in rural areas are most likely to never receive an education. Purely because they can't get to schools, or the schools can't cater to their disability. This is RIDICULOUS. Why is it that in the 21st century we are still facing issues when getting girls to education. I was in a few forums and workshops that day where they discussed some real key issues that I just don't understand.
1) Getting to schools: I can understand why this is an issue, thousands of children across the world cannot get to schools, maybe the school isn't in your catchment area, or it's too far too walk. Either way this creates problems and prevents hundreds of children from getting an education.
2) Decision to the parents: When a parent in a rural village have children, they sometimes have the difficulty in deciding which child will receive the education, unfortunately girls get the choice of marriage, which equals money to the family. So more times than not, the boys will get the education. A really interesting charity studied different short stories in rural areas of young girls genuinely not being able to have an education because they have been sold into marriage, the stories are heart-wrenching, and definitely worth a read. 1 in 3 girls in the developing world will be married before the age of 18.
3) Working early: Especially in rural and developing countries it's found that more and more parents would rather their children work to earn their keep, over them getting an education. There were plenty of workshops on this and what charities are planning on doing.
Overall the forum was a success, the UK promising to give £100m to the global strategy goals, and charities, including Plan UK, Unicef and Save The Children, promoted their goals and ways to donate and help. It was also an eye-opener, considering that in 2016, 63 million girls are still out of education.
So I think, what is really important, is for more people to realise, that this is a genuine issue, a genuine problem that still effects 63 million children worldwide. Read the articles attached, sign the petitions, make your own change and discover the potential you can have to make that difference and end this once and for all. Lets make sure every child has an education, because every child deserves one.
http://www.plan-uk.org/because-i-am-a-girl/early-and-forced-marriage/
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/girls-education-forum-2016
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| Nick Hurd and I after a discussion on child marriage. |
I have had a busy few weeks, and it led me to think about my future. Which is something everybody has to do at some stage, for some it is in the shower or in bed late at night. For me it is on a train.
Since I was sixteen I have been volunteering, I have a fire for it, a passion. I won't go into it in the article but feel free to read my previous one (My Greatest Achievements).
 |
| Girls in Education |
1) Getting to schools: I can understand why this is an issue, thousands of children across the world cannot get to schools, maybe the school isn't in your catchment area, or it's too far too walk. Either way this creates problems and prevents hundreds of children from getting an education.
2) Decision to the parents: When a parent in a rural village have children, they sometimes have the difficulty in deciding which child will receive the education, unfortunately girls get the choice of marriage, which equals money to the family. So more times than not, the boys will get the education. A really interesting charity studied different short stories in rural areas of young girls genuinely not being able to have an education because they have been sold into marriage, the stories are heart-wrenching, and definitely worth a read. 1 in 3 girls in the developing world will be married before the age of 18.
3) Working early: Especially in rural and developing countries it's found that more and more parents would rather their children work to earn their keep, over them getting an education. There were plenty of workshops on this and what charities are planning on doing.
 |
| Nick Hurd speaking at the event. |
So I think, what is really important, is for more people to realise, that this is a genuine issue, a genuine problem that still effects 63 million children worldwide. Read the articles attached, sign the petitions, make your own change and discover the potential you can have to make that difference and end this once and for all. Lets make sure every child has an education, because every child deserves one.
http://www.plan-uk.org/because-i-am-a-girl/early-and-forced-marriage/
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/girls-education-forum-2016
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