#behervoice

As of 2014 31 Million girls of primary school age and 32 million girls of high school age were not in school!

In order for any country to prosper girls need to be educated.

UNICEF’s studies have found that educated girls delay marriage until they are older and are less likely to have a child before marriage.

In sub-Saharan Africa over one third of girls under the age of 18 are married, one third will give birth before the age of 20, behavior that contributes to generational poverty.

The ripple effect of educating young women is wide, not only affecting their direct families and community but the generations that come after them. Educating girls also helps to break the cycle of poverty, they will have healthy babies later in life, will not suffer forced marriages, will not submit to harmful traditional practices such as genital mutilation and, most importantly, will go on to educate their own children.

There are many obstacles to girls’ education from cultural beliefs that boys education is more important, early marriages, money for education, lack of sanitation and having to drop out due to early pregnancy.

Knowledge is power is an old adage that we have all heard that but it remains true. Educating girls brings economic well being to all nations and affects generations to come.

Our planet needs girls in school, we need educated young women who will go on to become positive roles models for others, girls that go on to become teachers, doctors, lawyers.

We have to overcome poverty and one way to do that is to get our girls into school and keep them there until they graduate.