Washington: The United Stated today announced USD 70 million aid to Pakistan to educate adolescent girls in the country.
"Building on Pakistan's commitment to double education spending, the US will be investing USD 70 million to educate adolescent girls in Pakistan," US First Lady Michelle Obama said at a White House event she hosted for Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's wife, Kalsoom Nawaz.
During the event 'Joint US-Pakistan Let Girls Learn', Michelle said with this funding, the United States will build more than a dozen new schools and rehabilitate hundreds of others.
"We are going to be setting up health screenings for thousands of girls to ensure they are getting the medical care they need. We will be funding skills-training programmes and college scholarships for girls," she said.
"And, taken together, these efforts will reach 200,000 girls in Pakistan," Michelle said.
This investment, she said, represents a major milestone for these girls and for Pakistan.
"But I want to be clear that today's announcement is actually part of a much bigger story about global girls' education ?- a story that started last spring here, at least for us, at the White House when the President and I launched our new initiative called Let Girls Learn," she said.
