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Artist News
Rihanna calls for support in improving access to education for children
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 19 September 2018
Rihanna has written a new article for The Guardian calling on politicians worldwide to improve access to education for children.
“Growing up in Barbados, I did not always love school. It can feel like a grind, especially when you’d rather be singing, playing sports or doing pretty much anything other than homework”, she writes. “I realise now that I often took it for granted that I was even able to go to school. Education can be stolen from you in a second. As we’ve seen recently on an unprecedented scale, the Caribbean gets hit by natural disasters that wipe out schools, leaving thousands of children stranded”.
She continues: “In other parts of the world, conflict, poverty, deeply ingrained sexism, and bad public policy keep more than a quarter of a billion children and teens from getting an education. Almost a quarter of these children are affected by conflict or crisis, and girls are more likely not to complete school. But that’s just the surface of the problem”.
“In 2012, I launched the Clara Lionel Foundation because I believe we each have an opportunity to help one person”, she then says. “CLF is inspired by my passion for children, especially their health and education. We fund programmes that remove barriers to education by offering financial support to children and their communities. And following our time in Malawi, I am proud to say we are supporting thousands of girls there to move through secondary school”.
Find out more by reading the full op-ed here.