U.S. to spend millions on educating Pakistani girls

The Obama administration plans to announce a new partnership with Pakistan to promote education for girls there by doubling spending on schools and boosting female enrollment, according to a senior U.S. official.

Pakistan plans to increase the number of female teachers and build boundary walls and make other accommodations to allow women and girls to teach and learn alongside men and boys.

The U.S. will commit to spend $70 million to the cause and will cooperate with Pakistan to increase the ranks of girls in school by more than 200,000.

An announcement is expected after a meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday at the White House.

The agreement came partly at the urging of First Lady Michelle Obama, whose signature Let Girls Learn initiative is designed to help adolescent girls around the world attend school and complete their education.

Shortly after the launch of the program in the spring, the president and first lady called on world leaders to collaborate with the U.S. to try to get more than 62 million uneducated girls into school.

The first lady’s office hopes the awareness campaign will help girls overcome barriers such as poverty, cultural norms and violence that get in the way of their school attendance.

Already, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Japan have joined in the effort. Officials consider the new promises from Pakistan to be a significant step toward helping disenfranchised girls get an education.

“Empowering girls and ensuring them access to quality education has long-term, transformational benefits for their future, for their families and communities, and for Pakistan’s economic prosperity overall,” said one senior administration official, who requested anonymity in discussing the program before its announcement.