If I Had a Magic Wand



Other - Educating Married Girls.



If I had a really powerful magic wand (think Harry Potter) I'd stop girls being married as children and keep them in education. However, these wands are rare - so let's imagine I have a less powerful, task-oriented wand with which to transform the world.



If I had a magic wand like this I'd find a way to deliver education to child brides.
If I had a magic wand I'd design programmes that focused on delivering this education in whatever way it was possible to deliver it and forget about traditional models of school and education.
If I had a magic wand I'd work on persuading the husbands and parents of these child-brides to allow the girls to continue their education.
If I had a magic wand I'd accept whatever limitations were necessary to make this happen - perhaps it might be possible to offer some sort of training allowance to the girls, have only female teachers, restrict the subjects taught. There has to be a way to do it.
If I had a magic wand I'd get governments to focus on the trackable economic growth that parallels the education of girls and women.
If I had a magic wand I'd use it to get governments to fund and provide for the education of these girls in the full and certain knowledge that their children - boys as well as girls - would be healthier and better educated. And in the belief that if these girls are educated they will refuse to allow their daughters to marry as children.
It would be hard to think of a better economic investment.





In partnership with the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), World Pulse is collecting personal stories outlining women’s experiences and recommendations on sustainable and equitable development for presentation at the Rio +20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.



All stories submitted on our community platform between now and June 3, 2012 will be presented at the Rio+20 Conference. Additionally, selected entries will be published in World Pulse’s digital magazine and distributed widely to international media partners.

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