‘Whether your school is open or not, I hope you’ll do whatever you can to continue learning even though it may have been many months since you have been to school’, says Malala Yousafzai, girls’ education activist and co-founder of Malala Fund. ‘Don’t lose hope and don’t give up on your education.’
With her organization, Malala has joined the campaign Keeping girls in the picture launched by UNESCO’s COVID-19 Global Education Coalition to advocate for girls’ education and their safe return to school.
In a video produced by Malala Fund, in partnership with the Global Education Coalition’s Gender Flagship, Malala urges girls to go back to the classroom as soon as it is safe to do so and calls on parents, teachers and leaders to help ensure girls reenroll in school when possible.
At the peak of the pandemic, over 1.5 billion learners have seen their education disrupted by COVID-19, disproportionately affecting girls and women. UNESCO estimates that nearly 24 million learners are at risk of not returning to school this year, including 11 million girls and young women.
‘I know you have dreams and ambitions and I believe you can make this world a better place’, says Malala. ‘It all begins with education.’
The video is also available in Urdu, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Turkish, Arabic, Dari and Pashto.
About Malala Fund
Malala Fund is working for a world where all girls can learn and lead. Malala Fund advocates for resources and policy changes needed to give all girls a secondary education, invests in local education leaders and amplifies the voices of girls fighting for change. Learn more at malala.org.
About the Global Education Coalition
The Global Education Coalition was launched by UNESCO in March 2020 to protect the right to education during the COVID-19 crisis. It currently brings together over 150 members from the UN family, civil society, academia and the private sector. The Gender Flagship is a global collaborative platform within the Global Education Coalition committed to gender equality in education. It works to address the gender dimensions of COVID-19’s impact on education and safeguard progress made on gender equality in education. Malala Fund is a member of the Gender Flagship.