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U.S.first lady meets Cambodian female students, stressing importance of girls' education

Xinhua, March 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. First lady Michelle Obama on Saturday met Cambodian female students to stress the importance of girls' education.

Michelle, along with Bun Rany, wife of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, visited female students at Hun Sen Prasat Bakong High School here.

"We met with a group of young girls. Most we talked with were teenagers. These girls were amazing, they have big huge dreams," she said at a "Let Girls Learn" event after a meeting with those female-students. "Their plans are to use their education to serve their community and to build their country."

The first lady, who is a Princeton graduate in sociology, encouraged girls to focus on schooling, saying that their success would not happen without education.

" 'Let Girls Learn 'is about giving girls like you here a voice in your community and in your country," said the first lady,who also holds a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School. "When you have chance to fulfill your potential, there is no limit to what you can achieve, so I'm today to urge you to keep learning as much as you can."

According the UNESCO, literacy rate among females in Cambodia is much lower than males, only 70.9 percent of females are literate, compared with 85.1 percent of males.

The "Let Girls Learn" initiative, launched by the first lady earlier this month, aims at reducing the number of girls who do not attend school.

The effort will use America's nearly 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers live and work in developing communities across the globe to help expand access for schooling for girls.

Carrie Hessler, director of U.S. Peace Corps, said"An investment in girls' education is the single greatest investment because when a girl is given the opportunity to learn, everyone in her life benefits."

Cambodia is one of the 11 countries in the Let Girls Learn initiative, according to the White House. The other countries are: Albania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Georgia, Ghana, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Togo, and Uganda.

Michelle arrived in the country Friday to promote her new "Let Girls Learn" global education initiative to Cambodian girls.

She is scheduled to visit the famed Angkor Wat Temple on Saturday afternoon before leaving for the United States on Sunday morning. Endi