Girls need the freedom to choose their own destinies. Education is the key to achieving that.

My mother is a teacher. She taught me that a woman's most empowering weapon is education. I was fortunate to have been born into a middle-class family in Mumbai. But I encountered many girls who were expected to get married at a certain age and, in doing so, call an end to their educational life. Their career paths were not decided by them and, in many cases, they didn't have a career.

The East is rife with blind faith and superstition. It is heartbreaking that, even today, certain cultures are still mired in age-old traditions that remain unquestioned. Some of these are oppressive. I had heard about female genital mutilation, but it was only after a visit to Sierra Leone that I realised how culturally accepted it was there. It's the same with girls in India being married off at an age when they're too young to understand what is happening. Or pregnant girls who have not been told what is happening to their bodies.

Where do you even start to address these challenges? Imagine the struggle of teaching people who have had hundreds of years of heritage and tradition dictate the path of their lives.so we should change our mind.