In addition to being a global superstar and businesswoman, Rihanna is also a philanthropist with a particular interest in and passion for education.
Her Clara Lionel Foundation is one of the ways in which she contributes towards making education accessible.
She has written a thought provoking letter in The Guardian about the necessity for making education accessible to all
She writes:
“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. 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.
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.
It does not have to be this way.
Each additional year of primary schooling boosts a girl’s prospective income by up to 20%. This is not lost on many developing countries. Take Ethiopia, where a 15-year gender equality plan targeting girls’ education has more than doubled participation today. More than 93% of Ethiopian girls are in primary school and 96% in middle school. The price tag to the international community of educating a primary-aged child currently not enrolled in school is estimated at just over $50 a year.
I want to be part of a solution that works.”
Slick Woods gushes about Rihanna
Yaaaass Rih!
