The voyage of advancing human rights across the globe can be traced back to the 1940’s. It all began after the drafting of the Universal Declaration of human rights in 1948; that our struggle began, the struggle of educating a girl child.
However, the journey is prolonged day after day by social issues that impede the advancement of individual human rights; especially the rights of women and girls. One of the greatest and most talked about topic in the present day is that of empowering the girl child through education.
This struggle has been at the heart of many human rights advocates, who work tirelessly to advance the rights of many young girls and ensure that every young girl’s right to education is not deprived in any way because we believe that educating a girl child paves a way for sustainable development.
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To attain the vision and ensure that young girls are enlisted in both primary and high educational institutions, we first need to tackle these barriers. As listed in the latter, these barriers go far beyond than prohibiting young girls a chance to getting a proper education but they also challenge their humanity as individuals. Therefore, there is a great need for both public and private stakeholders to put in place great and positive initiatives that will help tackle these barriers and enable girls a chance to also set foot in a classroom.
As much as we would like to attain the vision of achieving sustainable development, we should also ensure that there is gender equality. The trick is to ensure that no one is left behind, inclusion brings forth sustainable development, it serves to include everyone in partaking off the voyage; it also gives others a chance to serve and bring about change.
The struggle is for everyone, it does not only go for the stakeholders, government entities; it is for everyone. After all, that affects one affects all.  Therefore, young people, the citizenry should also ensure should rise at overpowering these barriers and ensure that every young girl’s right to education is protected and availed to every young girl.
We read stories of young people such as MALALA YOUSAFZAI; who continue the struggle. Their stories should be our visions; they should inspire everyone to take part in making a difference.
However, girls are targets of exclusion and marginalization which have rather been developed through personal perceptions of what a girl child should be. This has given men and the society to some extend eminent power to dictate how a girl should live, what she should and should not do, whether or not she belongs in school, in essence, it gives them the right to determine the young girl’s future. And this may explain why the journey to educate the girl child seems futile.
Apart from exclusion, girls are also exposed to violence, child or forced marriages, FGM and many more other impediments that stand against the dreams of young girls and the vision of not only including the girl child in the voyage of changing the world but also at  getting rid of stereotype perceptions that work against our visions.
Countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria are typical examples of how women and girls are at the face of abuse. About 3.7 million young girls in Afghanistan are out of school and one other horrific incident recorded in Nigeria, was when young girls were taken out of school and married off to military soldiers; a story we will never cease to tell.
According to research; globally about 131 million girls are not in school, and this is rather shocking that even after the greatest progress in the last three decades, the vision has become stagnant. And if more efforts are not put in place, girls will increase the two-thirds of women across the globe that are illiterate, rating at 57.7 million illiterate women in the world as compared to men.
Furthermore, recordings indicate that Sub Saharan region is the highest region with young girls that are not in school or will never set foot in a classroom; which may be caused by continuous civil wars, high poverty rates, poor school conditions which act as impediments to proper education in a clean and safe environment.
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To attain the vision and ensure that young girls are enlisted in both primary and high educational institutions, we first need to tackle these barriers. As listed in the latter, these barriers go far beyond than prohibiting young girls a chance to getting a proper education but they also challenge their humanity as individuals. Therefore, there is a great need for both public and private stakeholders to put in place great and positive initiatives that will help tackle these barriers and enable girls a chance to also set foot in a classroom.
As much as we would like to attain the vision of achieving sustainable development, we should also ensure that there is gender equality. The trick is to ensure that no one is left behind, inclusion brings forth sustainable development, it serves to include everyone in partaking off the voyage; it also gives others a chance to serve and bring about change.
The struggle is for everyone, it does not only go for the stakeholders, government entities; it is for everyone. After all, what affects one, affects all.  Therefore, young people, the citizenry should also ensure should rise at overpowering these barriers and by ensuring that every young girl’s right to education is protected and availed to every young girl.
We read stories of young people such as MALALA YOUSAFZAI; who continue the struggle. Their stories should be our visions; they should inspire everyone to take part in making a difference.
As Nelson Mandela would say to deny them human rights; is to challenge their humanity. We ought to work together in protecting girl’s rights. Girl’s rights are HUMAN RIGHTS.
writer
Lesego Gaetwesepe
Studied Gaborone University college of Law, Botswana