On this International Day of the Girl, we celebrate the Speed School girls who are transforming their lives through learning. Their testimonies reveal both the challenges they have overcome and the confidence they have gained through education. They embody this year’s theme,“The girl I am, the change I lead: Girls on the frontlines of crisis,” as girls who have faced conflict and oppression, but through education learn to lead, promote change, and help other girls raise their voices too.
That spirit of leadership begins in Speed School classrooms, where students learn together, support one another’s healing, and grow both academically and emotionally.
But the path to that classroom is often lined with obstacles that begin long before a girl’s first lesson. Many children living in poverty already face barriers such as conflict, displacement, and lack of school materials, but girls often encounter these challenges more severely. They may also endure additional risks including gender-based violence, early marriage, limited access to menstrual supplies.
Formal education may not be an option simply because family members discourage or flatly prevent girls from going to school. Elfnesh Desta, a Level I student in Central Ethiopia explained, “My mother used to only let me do home chores and ignored my school lessons. Now that I am in Speed School, I get the chance to join school and engage in my lessons.” Many other girls had the same story: rather than receiving encouragement to focus on school, parents, siblings, and relatives would prioritize labor and chores at home, devaluing the importance of education for them.
In recent conversations with 25 Speed School girls in Ethiopia and Uganda, most said early marriage remains the greatest threat to their education. Child marriage and early pregnancy are among the most devastating barriers, forcing many girls to leave school permanently to take on adult responsibilities before they are ready. Across Ethiopia and Uganda, an estimated 40 and 37 percent of girls, respectively, are married before the age of 18 (Girls Not Brides).
Even for those who manage to stay in school, the obstacles continue. Menstruation, a normal part of adolescence, becomes a source of shame and exclusion when girls lack sanitary pads, private toilet facilities, or supportive school environments. Cultural expectations also play a powerful role: families often expect girls to cook, fetch water, care for siblings, or work in the fields, leaving little time to study. Boys, meanwhile, are more often free to focus on school. These patterns reinforce the belief that a girl’s value lies in domestic work rather than education.
In helping girls confront such challenges and thrive through education in Speed School classes. Here, girls don’t just learn, they rebuild their sense of possibility and begin to imagine futures defined not by circumstance but by choice.
Despite the obstacles they face, the girls’ determination and pride in learning shine every day,, discovering their strengths and mastering the curriculum through group work and play-based lessons. Irimu Martha from Amolo primary school in Eastern Uganda explained, “Speed School lets all of us explore our own interests.” Zinash Mitika, a Level I student at Kilinto Primary School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, described how the discovery and cultivation of girls’ interests can also help them heal:
One thing I’ve learned in Speed School that makes me feel proud and confident is how learning can be fun and healing. Activities like music, drama, and handicrafts have made school fun and helped me cope with the loss of my parents and move beyond my painful memories. Now I can read and write letters, numbers, and write my name, and even help my younger siblings with their homework, which I couldn’t do before. Speed School has opened a new world for me and inspired me to dream of becoming a teacher. It has shown me that girls can learn, lead, and succeed.
Zinash’s words reflect the same hope shared across classrooms in Uganda and Ethiopia, a belief that learning can restore confidence and change futures.
Even amid hardship, Speed School girls show remarkable solidarity. They encourage each other to keep learning and to avoid the pitfalls that might end their education. When asked how they would advise another girl who has faced obstacles to her education, almost all said to do anything she can to continue learning. Apio Maurice from Otwal primary school in Northern Uganda said, “I would advise her to work hard, stay at school and avoid early marriage.” Ayikoru Nasira at Kuru Primary School in West Nile, Uganda, echoed this advice, saying, “She should stay with someone who can help her, should avoid early marriage and should have future plans and join Speed School.”
For these girls, school is the lifeline that can pull them out of generational cycles and help them build a better future. Their words reveal the strength of sisterhood that thrives in Speed School classrooms, fostering an environment where girls inspire girls and thereby proving that leadership begins with uplifting one another.
For many girls, Speed School is the first place where they are encouraged to dream about their futures. Among the dreams they shared are the following:
I want to be a doctor to save lives.
– Elfnesh Desta, Level I student at Haile Bubamo Primary School in Central Ethiopia.
I want to be a teacher and teach students using the way that my facilitator teaches by engaging all the learners in my class.
– Tigabnesh Lambore, Level I student at Haile Bubamo Primary School in Central Ethiopia.
I would like to become a tailor because I know my grandmother cannot afford to pay my fees for my secondary level.
– Irimu Martha, Level II Speed School Student at Amolo primary school in Eastern Uganda.
I hope to become a nurse because I want to treat the sick in our community.
– Ayoko Regin Faith, Level II Speed School student at Kakuya link school in Uganda.
When I think about my future, I hope to become a teacher. Education has changed my life, it helped me heal from losing my parents and feel confident. I want to give other girls facing challenges like I did the same opportunity to learn and grow. Teaching would help to inspire hope and create change in my community.
– Zinash Mitika, Level I student at Kilinto Primery School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
On this Day of the Girl, we celebrate the courage and determination of the girls in Speed School who are breaking barriers and giving girls the chance not just to dream of brighter futures but to move confidently towards their dreams through education. By uplifting each other and relentlessly fighting for their right to an education, these girls remind us that when a girl learns, the world changes.
