Pakistan’s education system faces a 13% gender disparity. Parents pull girls out of school early, with only 34.2% making it to high school.

We wanted to persuade more parents to send girls to school through an impactful activation that would show millions of people the power of educating girls.

Women in Pakistan are overwhelmingly deprived of their basic right to education. The Global Gender Gap Report placed the country at 145th rank out of 156. UN Women has stated that 53.6% of women had limited access to education, training, and employment in Pakistan. There’s a widely held believe that education is useless for women. Due to social economic and cultural reasons parents keep girls out of school, preferring to have them do housework, or worse – get them married off early.

Our objective was to demonstrate how empowering girls with education can brighten their future, while also inspiring more parents to send their girls to school.

In a patriarchal society like Pakistan, boys are always seen as more deserving of education as they are most likely to have jobs and succeed. Women are restricted to traditional gender roles like looking after the house and family. We wanted to prove that girls are just as capable as boys when they have access to education.

Our strategy was to demonstrate the future possibilities that education opens for girls, by putting them on national TV, showcasing future career potential, and proving the power of education by having them read on national TV.

Television is the dominant medium in Pakistan with nearly ¾ of the country tuning in to the news every day. Everyone dreams of being on TV. Seeing the school girls broadcasters made the news of the literacy rate more impactful.

Rather than talk about the power of education, we decided to demonstrate it in a highly disruptive manner. For one night, schoolgirls, who could not even read three years back, took over as newscasters for the evening, reading the news to millions of people on Pakistan’s three leading news channels.

The girls, wearing their school uniforms, confidently shared their literacy journeys and how it had enabled them to read the news to millions of people in impeccable Urdu and English.

This special broadcast was aired during Human Rights Month, to emphasize Pakistani girls’ right to education.

In a patriarchal society like Pakistan, boys are always seen as more deserving of education as they are most likely to have jobs and succeed. Women are restricted to traditional gender roles like looking after the house and family. We wanted to prove that girls are just as capable as boys when they have access to education.

Our strategy was to demonstrate the future possibilities that education opens for girls, by putting them on national TV, showcasing future career potential, and proving the power of education by having them read on national TV.

Television is the dominant medium in Pakistan with nearly 3⁄4 of the country tuning in to the news every day. Everyone dreams of being on TV. Seeing the schoolgirl broadcasters made the message more impactful.

During Human Rights Month, Pakistan switched on their TV sets and tuned in to the news only to be greeted by an unusual sight – two tiny schoolgirls, wearing their public school blue and white uniform, sitting in the broadcasters chair and announcing the news.

The girls were filmed on the same set that regular broadcasters used.

The news segment ran on the top three news channels, at the end of which, the girls shared their literacy journeys and how it had enabled them to go from not being able to read three years ago, to reading the news to hundreds of millions of people today.

This special new edition was broadcast on news channels in Pakistan throughout Human Rights Month- December and reached millions of viewers across the country.

Following from the campaign, EBM introduced a policy of only working with schools that have an equal representation of male and female students. Their efforts have led to 160+ schools in Pakistan returning figures that now see girls' enrollment lift to an astounding 57% of total student numbers.

Being broadcasted on the top 3 news channels in Pakistan, the campaign had an incredible impression count of more than 150 million, and trended over social media. The conversation around educating girls has never been louder.

Seeing the girls so confidently take over the newsroom made for a powerful image that resonated with parents all over Pakistan, stirring hope from more girls like them to make their way toward a brighter future.

Large parts of Pakistan are heavily patriarchal. Girls are not expected to do big things, often in fact encouraged not to. The cultural misconception that education is a waste for women - as they would be married off to take care of a household - is still rampant amongst millions, and prevents millions of girls from a more fulfilling and em

powered future.