New Delhi, Oct 11 (UNI) On the occasion of International Day of the Girl Child, actress and philanthropist Priyanka Chopra on Thursday urged people to give chance to girls to follow their dreams and they will do everything.
Globally acclaimed actress and Unicef Goodwill Ambassador Priyanka, featured in a Youtube video launched on International Day of the Girl Child on Thursday.
The video is aimed at generating awareness around the importance of girls' education in India.
'Let them raise their voices so they achieve their dreams. This #InternationalDayOfTheGirlChild, @YouTubeIndia, @UNICEFIndia and I want to help little girls get an education to build a brighter, more secure future. https://youtu.be/ErW-0LhR1Fs #DayoftheGirl', Priyanka said in a tweet.
In the video, Priyanka says, "As girls grow up, the list of instructions grow as well. 'Ladkiyan zaada uchal kud nahin karte (Don't jump around too much)', 'Ladkiyan uchi awaaz main nahin bolti (girls don't raise their voice)', 'Padhai main kya rakha hai (what's the point in studying so hard)', 'Ghar hi toh sambhalna hai (you will be managing the house after all)'... so what are girls to do.'
"Girls will follow their dreams and will do everything,' Priyanka said in the video.
Talking about the issue and her support to the social campaign, Priyanka also wrote a guest blog.
She shared her experiences of visiting girls in village schools and how it affected her.
'There was a break in which they were all play acting - one was wearing a makeshift lab coat and playing doctor, another young one was wearing big glasses, holding a chalk in one hand, and was playing teacher, while one had made a huge tower from blocks and was pointing to her becoming a civil engineer and making big buildings. Where was I? It’s not important because I have travelled to the remotest villages with UNICEF across India and seen the same over and over again,' she said.
Priyanka said that worldwide, over 250 million children and youth are out of school.
'Those smiles and their dreams, their trust in us, the faith in their dreams and role-playing - have constantly reinstated my hope. Over a decade of working with Unicef to empower the girl child, to ensure access to education for the girls, is working - maybe in small steps, but the efforts can be seen. The statistics staring at us may be staggering but then, let us not focus on how big the numbers are,' she said.
"The battle is global. Which means more effort from all of us as a responsible society. If the battle is big, let's match our efforts to that scale, and up the ante on how we can help reduce that number. Bring more smiles, send more girls to school, ensure fewer dropouts and empower every girl child's dream,' she said.
On the work front, Priyanka is shooting for 'The Sky Is Pink' with Farhan Akhtar and Zaira Wasim.
UNI PY SHK1948