Rihanna has penned an op-ed on global education for The Guardian.
In the piece, the Bajan pop star calls on the international community to increase support for education, emphasising the benefits for underserved girls. She draws on her experience growing up in Barbados and later launching the Clara Lionel Foundation and serving as an ambassador for the Global Partnership for Education.
“When it comes to helping the world’s poorest children, I’m still learning—and I need others to join me,” the Diamond Ball founder wrote, “..join me on the journey and use their voices alongside mine. If we can overcome the education deficit in the developing world, everybody wins.”
As a Barbadian native who attended school in a Third World country, Rihanna attested that “lack of access to education for children around the world is a massive problem,” while adding, “the notion that millions of children are desperate to go to school and are not given the opportunity is something I cannot accept.”
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The Clara Lionel Foundation was founded to raise money for disadvantaged young people across the globe. Additionally, the Fenty Beauty mogul also serves as an ambassador for the Global Partnership for Education.
“As an ambassador for GPE, I’ve met a number of these world leaders and witnessed first-hand how difficult it can be to commit money to education. Investment in education can be more challenging to quantify compared to something like healthcare, which has a more tangible return on investment,” she wrote. “But that doesn’t mean it’s less important.”
So far, international countries like Germany, Japan, and New Zealand have contributed more money to the GPE’s aim of “improving education for 870 million children in 89 countries.”
