Michelle Obama launches Let Girls Learn in the United Kingdom

US First Lady, Michelle Obama launching “Let Girls Learn”

In a speech last week at the Mulberry School for Girls in East London, United Kingdom, the First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama, has urged all girls to pursue education steadfastly, as it is a potent tool that they can be used to reach great heights. She was in the school to launch her initiative called Let Girls Learn.  Speaking to some 400 girls in the school located in the borough of Tower Hamlets, where 90% of the students are Muslim with Bangladeshi background, with three quarters of the student population on free school meals and many enduring a hostile climate of Islamophobia, the First Lady declared that the world needed “more girls like you to lead our parliaments, our courtrooms and universities”. She described how the UK and the US are collaborating to expand access for adolescent girl education around the world.

US First Lady at Mulberry  School for Girls, East London

Let Girls Learn fosters quality education for girls, aware that an educated girl will almost surely have  a significantly higher earning power, enjoy a decent living, raise a healthy, educated family and help to boost the quality of life for herself, her family and her community. Girl education is also positively correlated with delayed marriage, delayed childbearing, lower birth rates, lower maternal and infant mortality rates as well as a lower probability of HIV/AIDS infection. The initiative will also support community-led solutions to reduce barriers that prevent adolescent girls from going to school and staying in school.

To the “smart, powerful, creative, accomplished young women of Mulberry School for Girls”, the First Lady described how she grew up “in a neighbourhood a lot like this one, where people work hard to make ends meet, where families are tight knit with strong values”.  She said that although there were only a few black women in positions of power in her youth, her parents realised that education was the “ultimate key” to success and that she could be successful if she worked hard at school, adding that “my parents fully expected us to do both: to achieve our dreams and be there for our family”.

Tower Hamlets is a highly deprived borough, which made headlines recently following the escape of three teenage girls to Syria. The First Lady had much encouragement for the young girls, whose school results outperform national averages in spite of the challenges, with 83% of the students making it to the university.

“Maybe you feel no one is paying attention to you, you wonder whether it’s worth it, to even aspire to be something great.

“Maybe you read the news and hear what folks are saying about your religion, and you wonder if anyone ever sees beyond your headscarf to see who you really are, instead of being blinded by the fears and misperceptions in their own minds.

“And I know how painful and how frustrating all of that can be. I know how angry and exhausted it can make you feel.”

She told the girls that there was no reason for them to despair, because there is a robust antidote.

 “But here’s the thing – with an education from this amazing school”, she assured, “you all have everything, everything, you need to rise above all of the noise and fulfill every last one of your dreams …the world needs more girls like you growing up to lead our parliaments, and our boardrooms, and our courtrooms, and our universities. We need people like you tackling the pressing problems we face.”

 She stressed that it is “so important that you do that, not just for yourselves but for all of us. Because you all have a unique perspective, you have a unique voice to add to the conversation.”

Bushra Hussein, 18, was impressed: “She was so down to earth. When you see her speeches on TV, you think she’s not reachable. But when she was giving her speech I got teary.”

Tahira Miah, 18, agreed with Hussein:  “I think it was when she was talking about her upbringing and that she’d had a difficult time. It shows how hard work can go a long way and result in amazing things. Her passion got to us all because she understands the struggles we face.”

The Head Teacher, Dr Vanessa Ogden, of Mulberry School for Girls was no less impressed.

“The First Lady is one of the greatest, most inspiring women of our time and her visit is an honour for us. Her use of her platform as First Lady to drive change for girls and to break down barriers in access to education is critical for a civilised world. The moral imperative is clear and the business case supports it. This is the call to get behind her global campaign.”