http://viewchange.org Videos from ViewChange.org (Filtered by topics: Secretary-General of the United Nations) en-us Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:00:00 +0000 Copyright 2011 Link Media, Inc. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/to-educate-a-girl What does it take to educate a girl? Framed by the United Nations global initiative to provide equal access to education for girls by 2015, To Educate a Girl takes a ground-up and visually stunning view of that effort through the eyes of girls in Nepal and Uganda who are out of school, starting school, or fighting against the odds to stay in school. Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/to-educate-a-girl Female education, UN Girls' Education Initiative, Gender equality, Millennium Development Goals, Uganda, Girls' Education Movement, Nepal, Queen Rania of Jordan, Saathi Sanga Manka Kura, Gulu >> HER MAJESTY QUEEN RANIA AL ABDULLAH [Global Chair, United Nations Girls' Education Initiative]: What does it take to educate a girl? Probably not a question you ask yourself every day. Today, millions of girls around the world never see the inside of a classroom. They are shut out of school through no fault of their own. Why? Because girls are more affected by poverty, disease, and violence than boys. They are more likely to do housework than schoolwork. And, even if they do get the chance to attend classes, they're first to drop out, long before their brothers. But these girls want to go to school, these girls are ready to go to school, and today they're more likely than ever to succeed. Because 10 years ago the United Nations called for equal access for girls and boys to primary education by 2015. That same year, the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative was launched, and many countries around the world declared their support. Governments, grass roots organizations, volunteers, teachers, parents, and children are all part of our movement working toward this ambitious goal. In "To Educate a Girl," you will meet girls -- and those that are helping them -- from Nepal and Uganda: two countries that are emerging from conflict, challenged by poverty, yet striving to give every girl a better future. So, what does it take to educate a girl? Watch and find out.>> TITLE: A film by Frederick Rendina and Oren Rudavsky>> KOFI ANNAN [United Nations Secretary-General, 1997-2006]: As we open the 21st century, more than 110 million school-aged children are not attending school. Two thirds are girls. >> TITLE: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan: World Education Forum, Dakar Senegal, 26 April, 2000>> KOFI ANNAN: 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 the test of life. >> TITLE: To Educate a Girl>> TITLE: 2010. Bara District, Nepal. Near the India Border>> MANISHA: My father carries bricks. My mother works in the landlord's fields. I dig potatoes. >> TITLE: Manisha, age unknown>> MANISHA: Because of my work I can't go to school. I did study for five months in Class 1. At that time my brother went to Punjab to work and got lost there. My mother cried and cried and became ill. Then my father went to Punjab, too. He called us and he cried a lot too. He had searched a lot for my brother. My mother couldn't do any work, and my father wasn't letting us know what was going on. I even asked, should I earn or study? My mom told me, if you're not going to study, then go and earn. Then I went to work.>> BHUKIYA [Manisha's Mother]: At that time we had a lot of problems. I was pregnant then. Manisha would bring the rice and went to earn money as well. She managed everything. >> UPENDRA: The Dalit caste here are very underprivileged. In the old days we didn't eat anything that Dalits touched. We didn't go to the places they went. So I decided to work here for their development and to raise their awareness. This is my medicine shop.>> WOMAN: He has a cold. >> UPENDRA: You need to break this into three parts and let him take one. Here children from the Dalit caste do not enroll in school. That's why Young Champions, like me, are given training so that we can take them to school and admit them and I follow up on their attendance. There are 35 girls like Manisha who aren't in school in this village. I've known Manisha's family for a long time since I'm from the same neighborhood. When I went to her home, her parents said we can't afford to educate all the kids. Then I said three of their daughters can study and leave one daughter at home. And then they agreed.>> TITLE: Manisha's Sisters>> MANISHA: My sisters started studying. >> TEACHER: What does this say? >> MANISHA: I'm not like them. They are better than me. They study and I don't. They are more confident than me. How do you think I feel? I feel like a servant. I thought it's better to earn than study. If I bring home my earnings everyone eats.>> TITLE: Northern Uganda >> TITLE: Mercy, age six>> MERCY: I will go to school. I will take my notebook and a pen. The most important thing in school will be to learn how to write in my notebook. But I'm afraid. I'm afraid of the other kids. They might beat me. I will go with my friends Adol and Kabila. >> GRACE [Mercy's Grandmother]: I stopped my schooling in Primary 3, I didn't even learn how to read. When I got married I already had four children.>> TITLE: Sarah, Mercy's mother>> GRACE: Sarah would've continued schooling, but then she had a baby. >> SARAH: A boy got me pregnant with Mercy when I was 15. After he did this to me, he disappeared. The problem with girls' education is that one has to have money. If there's no money a girl will not go to school.>> MERCY: Sarah should've gone to Senior 3 this year but we couldn't afford the school fees, so she's at home now. It is easy to educate a girl if you have the resources. But if there's poverty in your hands a child can't complete her education. >> SARAH: Let's pray.>> MERCY: I want God to open her ears and make her clever, to continue her education and get a job. After she gets a job she can get married to a person who also works. >> TITLE: Kathmandu, Nepal >> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA [Radio Host]: Well I must say that I'm quite lucky to get a very supportive family. Both of my parents are university teachers. Mom! I'm leaving now. So, like, they understand how important, you know, it is for everyone to be educated. I have been one among the privileged group who've got the chance of education and all the modern facilities and all. I love my job. Each day, each week I'm learning so many new things.>> AYUSH: Hello friends! What's up? Welcome to your favorite program, "Chatting with My Best Friend." And I'm your very dear friend, Ayush. And with me is ...>> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: Your dear friend Swarnima. I'm perfectly able to welcome my dear friends myself. Friends, for my part, I welcome you all to the program as well ...>> APSARA: I started listening to the radio when I was 10 years old. I listened to "Chatting with My Best Friend" a lot because it broadcast stories and dramas about our problems. >> PRENUM: Whenever I listen to "Chatting with My Best Friend," I make sure I have paper and pen with me so I don't miss anything important. >> SANJU: In "Chatting with My Best Friend" everything's shared. They're sharing problems that people are going through, and I like that. They say people who are suffering can also do something. I like that the most.>> TITLE: In Nepal, "Chatting with My Best Friend" attracts 6 million listeners every week.>> TITLE: Letter Discussion Session >> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: We receive hundreds of letters each week. One very major factor which leads us to the content of the show is the letter themselves. The letter discussion session, we have those meetings every week. We have to discuss which letters are we going to air and, like, what can be said to those letters. Reading each letter 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. Sometimes we even like fight.>> MAN 1: But you have to keep your skills up to date.>> WOMAN: Obviously.>> MAN 2: Because everyone is not lucky.>> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: They're writing about their lives, the most sacred of their problems, and they're sharing, thinking that, like, we are their best friend.>> TITLE: Kavre District, Nepal. The Foothills of the Himalayas>> SANJU [age 14]: I haven't written a letter yet. If I write, first I want to write about my pain, my parents troubles and what we've gone through up till now, and what my sister's gone through. That's what I would love to write. People used to say many things about my sister, like why is she going to school when she's supposed to get married? I used to feel hurt. I used to feel, I wish my sister would do something in this village, show them that a girl can do something, too. Then nobody would point to her and gossip. Some people still tell me even now that my sister should get married. But I tell them that my sister has a different destiny. So everyone shuts their mouth. >> SUJANI [Sanju's Sister]: People have this negative thought about sending girls to school. If they educate the boys, they will be successful and will look after their parents later, whereas a girl will get married and go live in someone else's house. The parents think, what are we going to gain from that? I'm a girl and I'm doing something for my family.>> SANJU: My big sister pays for my computer class and exam fees. Now my parents understand. Now that my big sister has proved herself, they say, why talk to the younger ones about marriage? Me? I'm 14. I'm studying in Class 8. Today the forest is open so we are going to collect dry leaves for the fire. I've always liked science. I've read about the lives of great scientists. Sometimes I wish I could do something like that. That I could be a scientist, too. But because I'm poor it's probably a dream. If I were rich I'm sure I would become a scientist. >> TITLE: In Uganda, the Girls' Education Movement has over 1,000 clubs. GEM is also active throughout East Africa.>> TITLE: Abim, Uganda>> JOEL OKIDI [Inspector of Schools, Abim]: In our district, here, we have our local GEM chapter, known as "Adige." That is, Abim District Initiative for Girls' Education movement. 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 [Abim School Headmistress]: The school walk is good. When these girls move, they're smart. And they're herding other children who have not gone to school to come to? School. >> CHILDREN: Teachers had to go to school, so concentrate until you finish. Nurses had to go to school, so concentrate until you finish. The time has come to go back to school! These days take your education seriously. Father and mother! Listen to me. I don't have any clothes and yet you're drinking alcohol. I have no books but still you're drinking alcohol. I have no pen but still you're drinking alcohol. >> SIGN: Both boys and girls have equal opportunity towards education. When you educate a girl, you are educating the whole nation. Give us good guidance and counseling. Back to school, stay in school and complete your studies. Give us time to stay at school. Girls who are outside come back to school.>> MAN: Can we now line up and we'll start our school walk?>> VOICES: Left, right.>> JOEL OKIDI: They will have a bit of marching within the area to inform the people that we are now in school.>> CHILDREN: Our day. Our day. Our, our, our, our day. Our day. Our, our day. Our, our, our back to school. Our day. Our day. Our, our, our, our day. >> MARGARET OUMA ARIOKOT: They have the songs. That helps them to educate. And then helps other children when they stage it. And the children say, "Aaah. It is good to go to school.">> MATHEW OMAR [District Education Office, Abim]: Before we started this type of strategy the enrollment was low. >> JOEL OKIDI: Since we started it has helped to improve enrollment and even the retention has improved greatly. >> SIGN: Give the girl a second change to go to school.>> JOEL OKIDI: The number of girls that are entering the school and completing have also improved.>> CHILDREN: Parents, parents! Please take your children back to school.>> WOMAN: Please give me your attention. Thank you for coming. We're here at the marketplace to encourage you to take your children back to school on Monday. Take your children to schools so that they can start Primary 1. If your daughter dropped out of school because she gave birth, if the baby is weaned, let her come back to school. When your daughter is educated, when your daughter is educated, her bride price equals three dowries. >> ACIENG IRENE: Okay! My name is Acieng Irene. I left school for two years but now I have gone back and I am beginning to see the value of education. When you educate your daughters it's like you are educating the whole world. Thank you parents, take your children back to school starting Monday. Thank you so much. >> WOMAN: While you are here, buy books and pens. Buy uniforms and let your children go back on Monday. Thank you so much.>> SARAH: Try that one on. We came to buy a uniform for Mercy. On Monday I will take her to school. This will be the first time Mercy goes to school. She'll start P1.>> TITLE: In both Uganda and Nepal, enrollment numbers for girls and boys are steadily rising due to the efforts of groups like GEM and Young Champions. High drop-out rates remain an issue.>> TITLE: Bara District, Nepal>> TITLE: Manisha>> UPENDRA: It's my job to get girls to go to school. I'd talk with Manisha, and she would tell me that she feels ashamed to go to school >> MANISHA: If I get the chance I'd go to school. But if I go, people will make fun of me for being too old. >> UPENDRA: For girls like Manisha what we do is we accompany them to school for a few days and it helps make them less hesitant to go.>> TITLE: The Young Champions movement is active throughout South Asia. There are 500 Young Champions in Nepal alone.>> UPENDRA: Who's houses are there? >> VOICE 1: Mine here and his there.>> MAN: This is a river. This road goes straight to school from there.>> UPENDRA: Where's Raju's house?>> VOICE 2: Over here.>> UPENDRA: We are mapping this village. How many girls go to school and how many stay at home. Look, this is the stamp for a house. How many children are in houses are written in this one. How many sons and daughters go to school is shown here. How many sons or daughters don't go, it's shown here. I'm marking a house here. We are Young Champions. We go to parents and try to convince them to send their children to school.>> WOMAN 1 [Young Champion]: Do you want to go to school?>> GIRL: But I'm not enrolled.>> WOMAN 1: If you go to school, you'll be enrolled.>> UPENDRA: Why didn't you send this child to school? What were you thinking?>> MOTHER: The kids say the teacher hits them and they're scared to go.>> WOMAN 1: Why don't you go to school and talk to the teacher?>> MOTHER: The teacher says why send kids so young to school? They don't pay attention.>> UPENDRA: These children are not too young to study.>> WOMAN 2 [Young Champion]: If you teach them from a young age, they'll learn.>> UPENDRA: So will you send her?>> MOTHER: Okay, I'll send her. >> UPENDRA: We went to meet the principal and talked to him about how the children are disciplined. Children shouldn't be given corporal punishment, because they run away. They should be taught with care and not with hitting. So things are improved now. When I go to the village and tell them to educate children and people say, "No, it's time for marriage, I will get her married," I use myself as an example. I got married at 13. At the time I was a child. I just did whatever my parents told me. So I tell people, look I got married and could only study so far. If I hadn't gotten married, I would be in a better position. >> WOMAN 2: From birth, rather than sending girls to study they're told to look after the kitchen. It's still the custom to discriminate between a girl child and a boy child >> UPENDRA: Doesn't your mother say to go to school?>> GIRL: Yes, she does.>> WOMAN 2: Why don't you go, then? Your mother asks you to go?>> GIRL: Yes. >> WOMAN 2: Then why don't you go?>> UPENDRA: Please send her to school every day. Once a month doesn't do anything.>> MOTHER: Whenever there's school, the child goes.>> WOMAN 2: School is open every day, we're coming from there. You should send her now.>> MOTHER: Okay, take her.>> UPENDRA: Go, get your books. Let's go to school. Come walk with us. This way. So the new madam teaches very well?>> GIRL: Yes.>> UPENDRA: Let's go to new teacher's place. We'll take you there. Sit near the teacher. Erase this and start again.>> WOMAN 2: Write it again and read it. Read it aloud. Now write it again. Try again. If you practice you'll get better at it.>> 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 the 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 family and household together.>> TITLE: Mercy's First Day of School>> SARAH: Do you have the uniform?>> WOMAN: Where is Mercy's uniform?>> SARAH: Where did you put the uniform?>> WOMAN: Let's check and see if it's here.>> SARAH: Maybe Mercy put it here.>> WOMAN: Where could the uniform be?>> SARAH: Mercy, come out!>> WOMAN: The uniform is not here.>> MERCY: My uniform was lost and that's why I was upset. Some lady accidentally took it. On the way to school somebody was sent to check, found it, and brought it to us.>> MARGARET OUMA ARIOKOT: What's your name?>> MERCY: Alimo Mercy.>> MARGARET OUMA ARIOKOT: Alimo Mercy. She looks a bright girl. The way she moves, the way she looks. You see when someone looks you direct, then that's a bright person.>> SIGN: GEM Slogan. Girls on the lead. Boys as allies. Adults provider of wisdom>> MARGARET OUMA ARIOKOT: Poverty level is high. That is the state of the children in this school. Come and see the classrooms. If you go around all these classes you will realize that its only P7 class that have benches. The rest are on the floor. And to make it worse it is a bare floor with dirt, dust. That even affects the handwriting. That even affects the concentration of a child. If the teachers come, you get up, clap your hands, and sing. One, two, three ... The lazy one just sits, the lazy one just eats. But then the lazy one opens his eyes. ... Good. Let's sit down. Thank you, now your teacher will come. Wait for your teacher, she will come. Sit and wait for the teacher. I'm supposed to have 14 teachers. But yesterday there were only three. My hope for the child, truly my hope for the child would be that they would all, first of all, complete primary 7.>> TEACHER: After you ask the teacher and go to the latrine, what do you do?>> MERCY: You open the door.>> TEACHER: Then you open the door without knocking?>> MERCY: We knock on the door.>> TEACHER: Before you get back to class, what do you do? What do you do?>> MERCY: I wash my hands.>> TEACHER: Good, sit down. Put your hands together for her!>> TITLE: Radio drama rehearsal>> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: Every week we select like a certain issue, then make a radio drama based on that issue and also air a letter, which is related.>> MAN [Actor]: Now listen to me. Starting tomorrow you are not going to school anymore. You can read the alphabet, there's no need for a girl to study further.>> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: This week we are, like, focusing on girl-child education, the issue of empowerment related to a girl-child education.>> TITLE: Kavre District, Nepal>> APSARA [age 17]: When I was in Class 8 I thought the radio hosts would solve my problem, so I wrote a letter to them. "Dear respected brother and sisters. Greetings. There is talk of marriage going on in my house. But I don't want to get married now. How can I stop my marriage and how can I improve my studies. Please, friends, what can I do to solve my problem?" I remember how I felt then. I felt tortured mentally. I simply could not concentrate on my studies. And I could not talk to my parents or anyone else about it. In return for my letter I got some life skills booklets and a letter. I showed the booklet to my parents and read the letter to my family. I developed my self-confidence and managed to convince them.>> FATHER: She wrote a letter to this "Chatting with My Best Friend," and they wrote her back saying that it's not the right time to get married, so we decided not to proceed further. They say it on the radio all the time that boys and girls are equal. If you cut a daughter's hand it will bleed just like the son's. There's no difference right?>> APSARA: My future would've been dark. If I can afford it in the future, I want to become a doctor, a heart specialist.>> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: 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: Okay. I'll read this letter. It's even highlighted. "Friends, as you know our society is a male-dominated one." >> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: A girl is writing to us saying that, so that her brother can go to school, she has to sacrifice. They're prioritizing the son not the daughter.>> PRENUM [age 20]: I guess I was 15 years old. My brother and I used to study in the same class. Both of our school fees were due but we weren't in the position to pay both of them. My parents decided to pay only my brother's fees and not mine. After that I left school for two years. What I wrote in that letter was that I dropped out of school in Class 7 but then continued school thanks to the information I got from the show. >> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: But now she's facing the same problem. She's writing us, and, you know, you've helped me the first time, you can help me this time as well.>> WOMAN: "Friends, what can be done about my problem? I feel if you don't solve my problems, I can't do anything in life.">> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: We receive those kinds of letters all the time. >> VOICES: Dear friends I don't know if this is right but one of my teachers acts in a very unusual way. One day he kissed me. I was utterly shocked and kept silent. / Dear friends, due to our low economic condition I am frequently pressured to leave my studies. I want to continue with school so that I can do something in life and be independent. / Dear friends, my parents are pressuring me not to go to school. I don't have time to study because of my household chores. / But it's hard for me to travel two hours to reach school. / I am 15 years old. / I studied to Class 5 but I was married off when I was 16 years old. / 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 hardly can concentrate on my studies. The picture of conflict is still fresh in my eyes.>> TITLE: Nepal and Uganda are both emerging from years of civil war.>> TITLE: The war in Uganda -- as in Nepal -- affected not only students who feared kidnapping at school, but teachers who were often intimidated or killed by combatants.>> TITLE: Gulu, Uganda>> SIGN: Title: Pillar of peace. Artist: Kigozi David>> VOICES SINGING: Oh Uganda, may God uphold thee. We lay our future in thy hands. United, free, for liberty together we'll always stand.>> TITLE: Sarah, age 17>> ISAIAH [Sarah's Grandfather]: Sarah's parents were shot by the LRA rebels. She'd just started her studies when her parents were killed.>> HEADMASTER: Good morning colleagues. I would like to sincerely welcome you back to Gulu high school 2010 term one. I would also like to congratulate ourselves for coming back in one piece. This will be a year of hard work. A year of seriousness. >> SARAH: I remember. The rebels came from behind the house. My father was inside. It was mid-afternoon. They said: Get out! I thought the neighbors were calling him. Then they seized him and tied his hands with a rope behind his back. Then my mother ... they called her out, too. They gave her a very heavy bag of peanuts to carry. She couldn't manage. They said if she could not carry it, they would kill her. Then she struggled to carry it. My mother and father were both killed.>> ISAIAH: She was going crazy. We started counseling her slowly and now she's okay.>> ELVIRA LALOCH [Sarah's Primary School Headmistress]: Gulu District have lost lives of so many of their relatives. They've lost even their homes and properties. They've also lost the thread of life. And even education was so low because they had lost hope, as they would say, in life. That is the time when Sarah dropped out. >> TITLE: Coo-Pe IDP Camp. Gulgu, Uganda>> ELVIRA LALOCH: This is the camp where Sarah lived when she was in primary.>> SARAH: Life in the camp was difficult because when you stay in the camp you see how people live. Some do not want to be educated, and they do bad, useless things. >> ELVIRA LALOCH: The culture was not followed. There was nothing to do. They could not even go to the village to dig because there was insecurity. Especially the children who are just looking at those bad things like drinking, fighting, early marriages, forced marriages also. In 2005 there was a club called "Girls' Education Movement" club. Their main objectives of the Girls' Education Movement club is to promote quality education for both boys and girls. For girls to exercise their rights in solving issues concerning them. Promote sense of leadership in girl child. Promote education of girls. So this GEM club came to the camp. For girls who are in difficulties they could bring them here, talk to them and so on. We are talking about girls' education through talk shows, drama, songs.>> GIRLS: GEM has brought education, free education. It makes me very happy. Take advantage of education. >> ELVIRA LALOCH: Sarah took interest.>> GIRLS: So you can grow and become sophisticated.>> ELVIRA LALOCH: And she told us that she had liked the GEMs club. She wanted to resume. She has taken education as a priority.>> TEACHER: Divided by nine. So you have three equals five F, minus one-sixty, all over nine.>> SARAH: School and making friends takes your mind off of things. It helps you forget. Also, when you're reading a book, you concentrate on other things.>> TEACHER: One point six times ten to what power?>> ISAIAH: The way I see it, she should become a doctor. But if that fails, she should be teaching, but at a higher level. Not primary. >> SARAH: I know my future will be good because all my thoughts are focused on education. In the future, I'll have my own family.>> TITLE: Kavre District, Nepal>> SANJU: Pucchi is my niece. At home she's a troublemaker so she's staying with us. She goes to the same school as we do.>> SANUMAYA: I haven't studied at all. When I was small my brothers were sent to school because they would look after the family later. I didn't even know where the school's gate was.>> JAGAT: I haven't studied. I can write my name and sign. But my children are doing well in school. >> SANUMAYA: During our days as the tradition went, we did exactly as told by our parents. We married who they chose and were always suppressed by our husbands.>> SANJU: Don't be naughty in class.>> SANUMAYA: I used to think that this was how life was for girls. But then I took some adult training and realized that I could do something. And then I understood that even girls should be sent to school, so that they too could do something. After realizing this I decided that even if become like a blind buffalo, I'll educate my daughters and build their futures.>> SANJU: May I come in, sir? In science no one could get better marks than me.>> TEACHER: The first planet is ... ?>> CLASS: Mercury!>> TEACHER: The last one ... ?>> CLASS: Pluto!>> TEACHER: There's more to learn about them.>> SANJU: But as I got older I started to worry and now I'm down to fourth position.>> TEACHER: Okay, Sanju, stand up.>> SANJU: When the teacher makes me stand alone, I feel tense inside. Even if I know the answer, it can be hard to say it aloud.>> TEACHER: What is the temperature of an orange star?>> SANJU: Four thousand degrees Celsius. Now that I'm in higher class, it's getting difficult.>> RAM PRASAD ADHIKARI [Sanju's Principal]: She's extremely hardworking and enthusiastic. And she's inquisitive about science. She's disciplined and has a wonderful learning nature. But, given her financial situation, she will face many obstacles. School isn't in a position to support her, either. >> SUJANI: Sanju is my youngest sister. She's the most studious of us all. We don't have to help her with her schoolwork. We'll have to get her into a good high school.>> SANJU: To educate a girl, you have to have the support of the family.>> CLASS: Eleven thousand degrees Celsius.>> TEACHER: And a yellow star?>> SANJU: Six thousand degrees Celsius.>> TITLE: End of Mercy's first day of school >> SARAH: Welcome back, how are you? What did they teach you?>> MERCY: We wrote today.>> SARAH: What did you write?>> MERCY: We wrote our names twice.>> SARAH: Twice? What is this?>> MERCY: This is where I tried to write.>> SARAH: But there's nothing written here.>> MERCY: Everything's not written.>> SARAH: It's not correct. >> MERCY: I was just trying. But I wrote nothing.>> MERCY'S SISTER: Why didn't you start from here?>> SARAH: You should start writing from here then continue on other pages, just like this, till you finish. Take her books inside. Go and sit on the mat.>> MERCY: You brought me water, even though I didn't even ask for it.>> SARAH: Wash your hands. Did you play today at school?>> MERCY: No, we didn't.>> SARAH: You didn't? You didn't even have PE? Let's pray.>> MERCY: Kabila, bring your food and eat here.>> SARAH: Who took you to class?>> MERCY: Madam showed us all the classrooms, even the latrines for girls.>> SARAH: Did she show you the one for boys too? Do you know now which one you have to go?>> MERCY: Yes. Teacher told me to squat on the latrine and I did.>> KABILA: She sat on the boy's latrine.>> SARAH: You didn't understand?>> MERCY: I did understand, but she told me to squat there!>> SARAH: So now you can show your friends where to go?>> MERCY: No, it smells bad there.>> SARAH: Listen Mercy! You take your friend but you stay away. Then you show them, this is your latrine.>> MERCY: But it stinks!>> SARAH: You have to stand far away, you hear me?>> MERCY: Kabila, can't you tell some stories? I'm finished with mine.>> SARAH: Mercy did you fight with somebody at class?>> MERCY: I didn't want to. A boy tried to beat me. It was Adolo who was fighting with some boy. Adolo can't lose, you know how she fights.>> SARAH: Did you try to separate them?>> MERCY: No, her brother was there, he would've hit me bad.>> SARAH: You shouldn't fight in school, do you hear? >> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: Morning. The show has made quite an impact you know. Because you feel that the show is talking to you about your issue. Then certainly that is going to motivate you. >> TITLE: Day of recording session>> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: I'm just finalizing the script, you know. The retouching and everything so that we'll have final refined script. It'll be from the line, "What's wrong with you today?" and then you say, "There's one free," and then I'll get more irritated, and then, "There's not one but two dramas today.">> AYUSH: Hello, what's up Sadi? >> VOICE: Hey listeners, I have a letter for the show, It's here! It's here!>> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: Ayush, I have a letter in my hand. "Friends, I have a big problem right now. My financial situation at home is not good, so I don't know how I'll be able to continue my studies. Friend, how can I solve my problem? >> PRENUM: When I heard my name aired along with my letter I was so happy. >> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: Before you were only in the seventh grade. Now you've passed your middle school exam. And based on that our friend can do some work.>> AYUSH: Friend, we used to have a hard time, too. Because my family didn't have money, either. But then my neighbors told me that I could teach their children. So I started tutoring them. >> SWARNIMA SHRESTHA: We have full faith that you'll be able to solve this problem, too.>> PRENUM: As I'm a student of education, I have to know about the ways to teach. I'm in Class 11 right now, and I can teach the lower grades. Thank you, sit down. >> CHILDREN: Thank you miss.>> PRENUM: Right now I'm working as a volunteer teacher in the school where I used to study. "Once upon a time, all the animals gathered in one place." In the future, after completing my education, my goal is to work in my community. I think I'll be a teacher later on. I'll be a very good teacher, a sincere teacher. Okay, we'll finish the chapter tomorrow. Please be good.>> 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. 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. About ensuring that your children in their turn 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.>> BHUKIYA: Manisha is good at everything. Though she left her studies she still remembers what she learned. If I give her something now, she can even read it properly.>> UPENDRA: If Manisha goes to study, she won't have to work. She will learn many things in school, and tell all the girls of her neighborhood to go to school.>> FATHER: Upendra says that we need to educate our children. He often comes to our place. He's the one who told us to take the children to school. Now I'm encouraging her to study.>> TITLE: After missing several years, Manisha returned to school, joining her younger sisters. She now attends Class 3.>> TITLE: The number of children out of school worldwide has decreased from 110 million in 2000 to 72 million today. Now just slightly more than half of them are girls.>> TITLE: [end credits]>> HER MAJESTY QUEEN RANIA AL ABDULLAH: What does it take to educate a girl? The support of families, the cooperation of governments, and the tireless work of educators, volunteers, and nonprofit organizations. Some of the efforts you've seen in this film are having a dramatic impact. The Young Champions volunteer movement in Nepal is active throughout South Asia. And GEM, the Girls' Education Movement, now has nearly a thousand clubs in Uganda alone. It has expanded to include boys who work towards gender equality in their communities. The radio show "Chatting with My Best Friend" reaches an astonishing six million listeners every week. Though there is still much to be done, awareness is expanding, enrollment is up, and more women around the world are taking control of their lives. Why is this massive effort so necessary? Because the rewards are real. Girls' education lifts lives. A girl in school means her family in better health. A rise in girls' education means a fall in population growth and infant mortality. As educated women, they send their children to school more, earn more, survive and thrive more, amidst poverty, disease, and conflict. I'd like to leave you with this proverb: If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. If you educate a girl, you educate a nation.