First lady: U.S. to help Pakistani girls go to school
WASHINGTON — Welcoming guests with the traditional Muslim greeting of
“asalaam alaikum ,” Michelle Obama announced a U.S. pledge of $70 million to help educate 200,000 girls in Pakistan.
She said the money will help build more than a dozen schools, rehabilitate hundreds of facilities and provide training and scholarships to help Pakistani girls “fulfill their promise” to become the next generation of doctors, teachers and entrepreneurs.
“These girls are all of our girls,” Obama said. “I have passion for this issue because I cannot look into the eyes of young women and not see myself and not see my own daughters, and not want the best for them.”
Obama was accompanied Thursday by the Pakistani prime minister’s wife, Kalsoom Nawaz Sharif, and daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who praised the first lady’s global effort to educate girls.
The U.S. commitment follows Pakistan’s recent promise to double spending on education, enroll more girls in school and provide more female teachers in the Muslim country.
The first lady leads a U.S. government effort to help more than 62 million girls around the world enroll and stay in school.
Obama said that, since announcing the Let Girls Learn initiative this year, the U.S. has received pledges of more than $800 million. The sum includes $350 million from Japan, $200 million from South Korea and $200 million in a partnership with the United Kingdom.
Officials say girls in the developing world are less likely to attend primary school and more likely to face barriers to completing an education.
Since launching the program, Obama has visited Japan, Cambodia and the United Kingdom to promote the initiative and recognize new partnerships.