‘Progress for girls in India has significance far beyond its borders’: UNICEF official
United Nations: UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director Hannan Suleman has praised the progress made in the status of India’s girls and said it will have global impact.
“Over the past decade, girls’ education has improved significantly, reflecting growing recognition of girls’ value within families” in India, she said on Monday.
“India is home to the world’s largest adolescent population, with 253 million adolescents” and “that means progress for girls in India has significance far beyond its borders”, she said.
“India has shown that sustained investment, large-scale community engagement, and policy action can drive real, meaningful change”, she said at an event organised by India and Sierra Leone to commemorate the International Day of the Girl Child.
India’s Permanent Representative P Harish said India’s efforts to advance girls through many programmes have shown their impact over a lifetime, and he spoke of the mark women made at his alma mater, Osmania University College of Engineering in Hyderabad.
“When I was a young engineering graduate student in college, I did mechanical engineering, and there were no girls in my class”, he said.
“It was an all-male mechanical engineering class because it was considered a discipline which was male, but today almost 70 per cent of the class in my university are girls”, he said.
“So, it is making real progress in our own lifetimes”, he said.
However, he said that artificial intelligence (AI) is still male-dominated: “We only hear of tech bros. We don’t hear of tech sisters”.
Because of its power, he said, “All of us as member states can focus on [it], so that the emerging AI domain becomes girl-friendly and women-friendly”.
“In India, we are ensuring that digital tools, including DPIs — digital public infrastructure — become a force multiplier for girls’ education”, he said.
“AI is increasingly being utilised to create specific tutorials and child-focused tutoring materials, which can help children use it to better their educational outcomes”, he added.
Sierra Leone’s Deputy Foreign Minister Jeneba Bangura said that investments in girls are a force multiplier for society, nation and beyond.
“When we invest in a girl, we strengthen families, communities, nations, and build a more peaceful, fair, and prosperous world”, he said.
“Across Africa and the world, girls are not only vulnerable, but they are agents of change, innovators, leaders, peacekeepers, and deliverers of growth”, she said.
Calling for international efforts to enhance the status of all girls, she said, “Sierra Leone is proud to join India and other partners as we seek a world where a girl’s birthplace does not determine her future”.
Liberia’s Permanent Representative Lewis Brown recalled the success of women in ending his country’s civil wars between 1989 and 2003.
“During our country’s darkest years, Liberian women mobilised communities, advanced peace, and helped restore hope”, he said. “For Liberia, the truth simply is, women help secure our peace.
“We must now help secure the future of Liberia’s girls”, he said.
The organisation, Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, forced the leaders to hold peace talks that ended the second civil war in 2003.
Algeria’s Permanent Ambassador Amar Bendjama said, “The conditions we create for girls today, our girls, shape their choices and also their contribution for tomorrow”.
“Investing in girls’ rights, in their well-being, in their opportunities, is therefore an investment in our shared future”, he said.
He also emphasised digital education for girls.
