Editor,

It can be seen that around the globe, 130 million girls are not enrolled in school and gaining an education. This can be due to girls getting pregnant, forced marriages and family pressures once they have reached adolescence.

The purpose of this letter is to push the Keeping Girls in School Act, which will empower girls by increasing educational opportunities and economic security. Allowing girls to gain 12 years of a safe, free and quality education can result in the increase of women’s lifetime earnings by $15-30 trillion globally. The collective economic benefits of allowing girls to gain an education will assist in lifting households, communities and various nations out of poverty, which is key in the advancing U.S foreign policy objectives.

The Keeping Girls in School Act will require the Department of State and USAID to update the current U.S. Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls and submit an update to Congress every five years. Which is why I urge the senators Susan Collins and Angus King as well as the rest of Congress, to recognize the impact of the Keeping Girls in School Act and help make the change.

Dalia Baban

Westbrook