More than 130 million girls didn’t go to school today. Not because they didn’t want to, but because they weren’t given the chance.
They are denied an education for a variety of reasons, from cultural norms and costs, to violence and extremism. The result is that these 130 million girls don’t have a fair chance to live a decent and productive life, and the entire world misses out by not benefitting from their potential.
Last year, ONE decided to sound the alarm on this global emergency. It’s up to all of us to push world leaders to mobilize resources and support key policy reforms that get these girls in school. So we launched #GirlsCount to make the world pay attention to these girls by counting them out loud, one by one, all the way to 130 million.
More than 30,000 of you added your voices to the chorus of activists, entertainers, athletes, and more calling for change. And now we’re taking all of those counts — all 39 hours of it — to a historic education emergency investment summit in Dakar, Senegal. At this summit, world leaders need to make the financial commitments necessary to get millions more kids in school and accessing a decent education. So ONE will be there, showing those leaders that the citizens of their countries are passionate about this issue.
Haven’t added your voice to the count yet? There’s still time. Visit one.org/girlscount TODAY to record a video and show your support.
