By NAN ET Editor
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Sept. 21, 2018: Bajan superstar, Rihanna, has a serious message for leading countries globally.
The star has penned an op-ed on global education for The Guardian newspaper, calling on the international community to increase support for education and emphasizing the benefits for underserved girls.
The singer, turned actress, entrepreneur, and philantropist drew 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, (GPE).
Rihanna singled out a handful of countries – such as Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Finland, and New Zealand – who she said could pledge more toward the GPE’s goal of “improving education for 870 million children in 89 countries.”
“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,” she wrote. “Investment in education can be more challenging to quantify compared to something like healthcare, which has a more tangible return on investment ($1 will purchase critical vaccines, for example). But that doesn’t mean it’s less important.”
Rihanna continued: “We as individuals can use our voices to empower these leaders to make education a priority. I hope you all join me on social media in calling on world leaders to step up to the global education challenge.”
Concluding the piece, RiRi added, “When it comes to helping the world’s poorest children, as well as the communities and societies in which they live, I’m still learning – and I need others to join me on the journey and use their voices alongside mine. If we can overcome the education deficit in the developing world, everybody wins.”
