Message to Girls to mark International Day of the Girl Child 2025

 Over the years, each edition has had its own theme, and I have always felt a personal connection to them. When I saw this year’s theme, I paused. It didn’t immediately speak to my personal experience. I wondered: how have I been on the frontlines of crisis? I haven’t experienced war. I haven’t lived through floods. I haven’t endured a natural disaster. How, then, could I relate?

Then I realized, education itself is a battlefield. The crises I have witnessed, the ones I have confronted, are quiet but profound: the barriers that prevent girls from learning, the stereotypes that tell a girl she is less than, the inequities that quietly erode dreams. These are the crises I have faced on the frontlines, one classroom, one conversation, one opportunity at a time.

Leadership, service, and change are not forged only in dramatic events, they can be developed in these small, persistent struggles. Mentoring a girl to believe she can excel, creating spaces for learning where none exist, standing up for fairness in schools, or challenging norms that limit potential, these are acts of bravery. These are acts that shape futures.

Perhaps this is what it truly means to be on the frontlines: confronting the invisible, systemic crises that education can hold, and choosing every day to fight for knowledge, equality, and empowerment. Being on the frontlines does not always mean facing visible disasters. It can mean confronting the silent battles that shape lives, daring to challenge the barriers that hold girls back, and sowing seeds of hope where others see none.

Even in the absence of sirens and storms, even where the world may not notice, the heart of a girl who learns, believes, and dares is a revolution in itself, and every small victory is a step toward a brighter, fairer tomorrow.

Happy International Day of the Girl Child 2025!!!