With Monday October 11th being celebrated as International Day of the Girl, our Journalist Leaders Flora and Lydia were inspired to write about the importance of education for girls.

By Flora Davies and Lydia Minko (Year 11 Journalist Leaders)

Recent events have solidified the idea that our future is uncertain. With looming issues such as the climate crisis and the worsening of women and girls rights in various countries, it’s no wonder people feel anxious. This is amplified by the technological advances constantly surrounding us with information. This can make some people even more anxious because we are constantly learning more as a society and so are more aware of the problems and crises we will encounter. We are facing an uphill climb with much uncertainty for the future and we need to stay positive and resilient.

But with the daily onslaught of statistics telling us about bleak prospects for the future, how can we?

Education is the answer. If we don’t know what will face us in the future and are fearful, education is the best way to combat that fear. Through education people learn and develop skills that allow them to imagine creative and innovative solutions. Education is the future and its success is shown by the incredible developments our society has gone through over the last 70 years.

During that time, in the UK both male and female students have had more access to education than ever before. This equality is crucial because when girls and women are denied the right to education, half or even more of the population are being failed. Their futures are dramatically limited. Not only will millions of ideas and solutions be lost out on, the economy will also be drastically affected. Globally if all girls receive 12 full years of schooling human capital wealth could increase by a staggering $15-30 trillion(Global Partnership for Education).

Denying women and girls access to education may seem a thing of the past, with people saying ‘Oh that sort of thing doesn’t happen anymore, we’re very progressive now.’

However that simply isn’t true. As of today approximately 2,220,000 young girls are missing out on school and structured education in Afghanistan (UNICEF) due to the Taliban’s ‘fear of ‘safety’ for them in school. Millions of girls, similar to ourselves, who also have hopes and dreams and plans for their future, have been failed by their country. In a cruel twist of fate in Afghanistan, currently women are able to attend university but if they do not have the primary and foundational education, what hope is there for the next generation of girls?

The world will miss out on generations of ideas, solutions and successes.

Unfortunately education is not taken for granted everywhere, and this is why it is so important that we value our education. In doing so we should also support education for all because when nations fail women, they also fail.

Education is the best way for us to be prepared for the future, because who knows what could happen? Pandemic? An almost dictator of a world superpower who refuses to accept election results? Fuel shortage? Well, if I can face my 3D trigonometry problems, I can definitely face them.