rania al abdullah: what's the best way to fight poverty, disease, and illiteracy in future generations? educate girls and invest in women. i'm rania al abdullah, global chair of the united nations girls' education initiative. please watch the upcoming documentary "to educate a girl" on this channel and see how girls around the world are using education to invest in themselves, their families, and their futures. man: "viewchange" is about people making real progress in tackling the world's toughest issues. can a story change the world? see for yourself. this is linktv's "viewchange," a new documentary series.

kofi annan: as we open the 21st century, more than 110 million school-age children are not attending school. two thirds are girls. the key to all the locks that are keeping girls out of school, from poverty to inequality to conflict, lies in basic education for all. we need all those with power to change things, to come together in a global alliance for girls education. that is why the united nations is launching a new global initiative to educate girls to ensure that by 2015, boys

and girls will have equal access to all levels of education. that is a test we must pass, and we shall pass it only if children all over the world can pass the test of basic education and go on to pass to test of life. [applause]

[manisha]

[manisha]

[bhukiya] [upendra]

[upendra]

[manisha]

[teacher] [children shout] [manisha]

[rooster crows] [woman sings in foreign language]

♪ sit down here ♪ ♪ and tell me a story ♪ when you're with friends ♪ ♪ no need to hurry ♪ no more rush, no more haste ♪ no more ♪ ♪ when you're with friends ♪ ♪ no need to hurry ♪ no more rush, no more haste ♪ ♪ no more ♪ ♪ no more [singing in foreign language] [mercy]

[grace] [grace]

[sarah] [grace] [sarah]

[swarnima] mommy?

swarnima: i love my job. each day, each week i'm learning so many new things. [music plays]

[ayush] [swarnima] [sanju]

[swarnima]

reading eachetter is like meeting a new person, you know. the letter has everything about the person. it's like meeting each one of them individually. we sit and we read them out and we discuss them sometimes for hours. sometimewe even,ike, fight. [swarnima] like we are their best friend.

[sanju]

[sujani]

[sanju]

[joel okidi] this day that we are organizing the go back to school walk, it is the adige members who are so much on the ground mobilizing. margaret ouma ariokot: their schoolwork is good. when these girls move, they are smart and they are courting other children who are not going to school to come

to school. [children singing] [blowing] children: left, right. left, right. [joel]

[children singing] [margaret] [children singing] matthew omar: before we studied this type of strategy, the enrollment was low.

[matthew] [children singing]

[applause] [woman] [applause]

[sarah] [upendra]

[manisha] [upendra]

[upendra]

[woman] [girl] [woman] [upendra] [woman] [upendra]

[woman]

kofi annan: from issues of morality to issues of mortality, the denial of girls' rights begins early in childhood, when a choice has to be made. between educating a boy or a girl, girls are more likely to be kept at home. when a family needs income

to be supplemented, girls are more likely to be sent to work. even when girls do go to school, they will often have to do housework at the expense of homework. when they become pregnant, school policies force them to drop out. when parents consider their daughter's future, they often see education as a hindrance to successful marriage and motherhood. girls are more likely than boys to care for a sick family member and keep the household running. nothing illustrates this burden more amply than the impact of hiv aids. when catastrophe strikes, whether in the form of illness or conflict, displacement or hardship, women and girls from 65 to five years old are more likely to shoulder

the burden of keeping the family and household together. [sarah] [mercy]

[speaking foreign language] [mercy]

margaretshe looka good gl. the way she moves. the way she looks. you see, when someone looks you direct, then that's the right person. [margaret]

one, two, three. [singing] [margare

[woman] [mercy] [woman] [ayush speaking foreign language] swarnima: every week, we select a certain issue, then make a radio drama, you know, based on that issue and also air a letter which is related.

[ayush] swarnima: this week, we are like focusing on girl child education, the issue of empowerment related to a girl child education. [ayush speaking foreign language] [apsara]

[apsara's father] [apsara] swarnima: sometimes we find one letter that it's so touching,

it has the whole story in it, and then, like, we feel like we must work on this. [woman] [swarnima] they are prioritizing the son, not the daughter. [prenum]

[swarnima] she's writing us, and you know you helped me the first time. maybe you can help me this time as well. [woman] swarnima: we receive those kind of letters all the time. girl: dear friends, i don't know if this is right, but one of my teachers acts in a very unusual way.

girl: dear friends... girl: one day, he kissed me. i was utterly shocked and kept silent. girl: we are low economic condition and frequently pressured to leave my studies. i want to continue with school so that i can do something in life and be independent. girl: i don't have time to study because of my household chores. t it's hard for me to travel for two hours to reach school. girl: i'm 15 years old. girl: i studied till class 5, but i was married off when i was 16 years old. girl: dear friends, our country was in conflict. no matter how hard i try, i simply can't forget. i'm mentally traumatized and this has also affected my education. i can hardly concentrate on my studies. the picture of conflict is still fresh in my eyes.

[singing] [isaiah] man: morning, cadets. i would like to sincerely

welcome you back to high school 2010. welcome. i would also like to congratulate ourself for coming back in one piece. should be a year of hard wor [sah]

[isaiah] [elvira laloch] and even education was so low...

this is the camp where sarah lived when she was in primary. [sarah] elvira: the culture was not followed. there was nothing to do. they couldn't even go to the village because there was insecurity. especially children who are just looking at those bad things like drinking, fighting, allied marriages, forced marriages also. in 2005, there was a class called girls education club. the main objectives of the girls education movement club is to omote quity educion

r both bs and gis. for girls to exercise their rights in solving issues concerning them. promote sense of leadership in girl child. promote education of girls. [elvira] they were talking about girls education through talk show, drama, songs. [singing] elvira: sarah showed interest. and shtold us at she h liked the gems club. she want to resume. she has taken education as a priority. teacher: divided by 9. to youave 3 = - 150. [sarah]

teacher: 1.6 x 10. [isaiah] [sarah]

[sanju] [sanumaya]

[jagat] [sanumaya] [sanju] [sanumaya]

[sanju] [sanju] [teacher] [class] [sanju] [teacher] [sanju]

[sujani] [sujani] [teacher]

[woman singing in foreign language] ♪ sit down here ♪ and tell me a story ♪ when you're with friends ♪ ♪ no need to hurry ♪ no more rush, no more haste ♪ no more ♪ when you're with friends ♪ ♪ no need to hurry [sarah]

swarnima: good morning.

[swarnima] then certainly that is going to motivate you. i'm just finalizing the script, you know, like the retouching and everything so that we'll have a final refined script. ayush: hello. what's up? sative. [bell rings] [swarnima]

[swarnima] [ayush]

[children singing]

[woman singing] ♪ getting ♪ getting, getting away ♪ ♪ going, going, going away ♪ and fly away ♪ getting, getting ♪ ♪ getting away ♪ going, going, going away ♪ and fly away kofi annan: it is often said that education empowers girls by building up their confidence and enabling them to make informed decisions about their lives. [woman singing] ♪ go for ♪ nothing less ♪ spread your wings ♪ and fly away ♪ fly away kofi annan: for most of the world's girls, it is about escaping the trap of child labor or the perils of going into labor of childbirth while still a child yourself. [woman singing] ♪ going ♪

♪ going, going away ♪ and fly away kofi annan: about ensuring that your children in their time are guaranteed the right to education. it is about being able to earn an income when women before you earned none. about protecting yourself against violence and enjoying rights which women before you never knew they had. about taking part in economic and political decision making. finally, it is about educating your children to do the same and their children after them. it is about ending the spiral of poverty, which previously seemed to have no end. [woman singing] ♪ for nothing ♪ go for nothing

[bhukiya] [upendra] [man]

man: like what you saw? then visit viewchange.org, linktv's brand-new multimedia website. watch over 350 stories about new solutions to the developing

world's biggest challenges, get involved with the issues, share the stories with friends, and help change the world. all at viewchange.org.

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