As a child growing up in poverty, I witnessed how community consistently prioritize boys over girls in education because they felt boys had more chances to get job opportunities, These experiences made me want to write a story that decisively validates the value of giving educational opportunities to girls.

In some rural areas, parents withdraw girls from schools when they reach a certain age because they are afraid they will have to have relations with teachers.

Sometimes people like to ask me why should girls go to school, why is it important for them. But I think the more important question is why shouldn't they, why shouldn't they have this right to go to school.

I am more concerned about the orientation of the family, especially for the girl child. I was also married quite early, but my parents knew the value of education, and it didn’t deter me from furthering it,” she said. “Marginalization of women in any form should be eradicated from the human space.

They drop out of school because their parents marry them off. After female circumcision, the girl is married off

I've tried to find out why children, especially girls, are not as educated in Africa and other developing countries and one thing I noticed is culture. More value is placed on boys than girls, and there's this belief that the girl's name would change when she gets married, so there is no need to give them resources that are already little.

And when girls cannot go to school and grow up not knowing how to read or write -- that denies the world future women engineers, future women doctors, future women business owners, future women presidents -- that sets us all back. That's a bad tradition -- not providing our girls the same education as our sons. I was saying in Kenya, nobody would put out a football team and then just play half the team. You’d lose. The same is true when it comes to getting everybody and education. You can't leave half the team off -- our young women.

There are still women and girls who are denied their right to education even though the government provides free basic education, but some parents deprive their daughters of that right.

China considers the education of girls and women from poor families a top priority, and seeks to safeguard girls’ right to education with a host of measures. These include building schools, exempting girls from tuition and miscellaneous fees, and offering them grants and nutritious meals. In addition, we have introduced various skills training programmes for women – which take regional characteristics and the local needs of women into account and help them increase their income.

"Marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.”

Like it or not, most people prioritize their own safety over the education of someone else’s child. I wanted to make them see that if we didn’t prioritize education now, it would be a public safety matter later.

We will not put an end to extreme poverty if we do not give priority to education especially, girls' education

Marriage is made out to be so important for girls The focus has to shift at some point from marriage to the real challenges of life which are the same for women and men We have to prepare our girls just the way we prepare our boys.

Everyone wins when children – and especially girls – have access to education. An educated girl is likely to increase her personal earning potential and prepare herself for a productive and fulfilling life, as well as reduce poverty in the whole community. Investing in girls’ education also helps delay early marriage and parenthood. Our booming economies in Africa need more female engineers, teachers and doctors to prosper and sustain growth.