First Lady visits UK to champion drive to boost education for girls

Michelle Obama is to visit London with her mother and daughters to highlight her efforts to boost girls' education across the world.

The American First Lady will be in London later this month as part of the Let Girls Learn initiative being championed by her and President Barack Obama.

It comes six years after she delivered an emotional address to pupils at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington – an encounter said to have been a significant inspiration to her taking on a more campaigning role.

The US embassy said Mrs Obama would “meet with students and discuss how the UK and the US are working together to expand access to girls’ education around the world – supporting adolescent girls in completing their education”.

Her mother, Marian Robinson, and daughters Malia and Sasha, will accompany her on the trip – which will also take in Italy, where she is leading a presidential delegation on health issues to the Milan Expo and visiting members of the US military and their families stationed in Vicenza.

The aim of the Let Girls Learn initiative is to “encourage and support community-led solutions to reduce barriers that prevent adolescent girls from completing their education”.

Around the world, 62m girls are not in school, but the benefits of ensuring they gain a formal education are widespread.

An extra year of secondary school for girls can increase their future earnings by up to 20 per cent. Official figures also show that each extra year of a mother’s education reduces the probability of infant mortality by five to 10 per cent.