BY JACK WELCH

 

For any citizen living in the UK, there are absolute rights which can easily be taken without any thought to its availability.

 

Whether it may be sanitation, housing or to have compulsory education, these essentials are not always a complete certainty in other nations across the world.

 

In terms of education, which is crucial for any prospect of a hopeful future, there are an estimated 130 million girls alone who are denied this right.

 

This figure, identified by the ONE Campaign, would alone be equal to the 10th largest country on the planet if all were living in such a place.

 

Last week also marked the annual International Women’s Day, a fitting occasion to ensure that girls education and its inequalities is in the spotlight once more. However, a lasting solution alone cannot be found in a single day.

 

While an area like Dorset is very remote from the concerns that face developing nations, investing in girls education is said to profit the wider economy in the margin of $112-152 billion a year, according to ONE.

 

That in itself would begin to relieve some of the financial cost to the UK if meaningful action can lessen the need of countries who can better support themselves.

 

As a young ambassador for the charity, I had the fortune of making my first visit to Downing Street for the formal handover of petition copies to both the addresses of Number 10 and 11.

 

The website alone has accumulated over 350,000 signatories which will be sent over to other global leaders who have the means to act. With the UK’s commitment to spending on international aid, it can lobby other countries to effectively increase their budgets to support education objectives.

 

While there is strong feeling on how the UK views its international aid spending, there is plenty of good reason to see its benefit when the money used is creating a long-term solution that both lessens dependence on making short fixes. The education of any child, regardless of gender, is something that serves all our interest if governments act now.