On International Day of the Girl, HP Inc. and nonprofit Girl Rising has announced the launch of new curriculum and technology solutions that will equip up to ten million students and teachers. The multi-year partnership extends to communities in the United States, India and Nigeria, and is a critical component in reaching HP’s goal of enabling better learning outcomes for 100 million people by 2025.
“We are thrilled to once again partner with HP – a company committed to social impact and at the forefront of innovation in the classroom – to radically scale our efforts to ensure girls everywhere have the knowledge, skills and confidence to decide their own futures,” said Christina Lowery, CEO of Girl Rising. “We are devoted to this cause because it is a proven catalyst: giving girls access to education and opportunity is the most effective factor in transforming pressing global issues including health, poverty, and climate change.”
HP believes that education is a fundamental human right that creates pathways to new opportunities. Today, more than 130 million girls around the world continue to lack access to education and women account for two thirds of the 750 million adults without basic literacy skills. HP will include Girl Rising’s teacher training modules focused on youth empowerment and life skills in HP Education Edition PCs. Targeted toward primary and secondary schools, HP will also deploy a suite of curricula and a library of content to accompany the HP School Pack, a suite of software pre-loaded onto HP’s EHP Education Edition PC.
“HP prides itself on bringing out the best of humanity through the power of technology,” said Michele Malejki, Global Head, Social Impact Programs, HP. “Girl Rising is doing groundbreaking work to empower women and girls around the world. This has never been more important, and our collaboration will equip millions of both students and teachers with the curriculum and technology they need to thrive.”
With the goal to develop the next generation of female leaders, the HP Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurship (HP LIFE) – a free e-learning program from the HP Foundation created to support entrepreneurship and skills development – will provide additional curriculum in the three markets. HP School Packs, a suite of software for educators, will also be available for the duration of the program. HP will evaluate additional opportunities for Girl Rising content and curricula distribution, including new products and services, as well as additional partners to scale the program over the next three years.
Global education opportunities
Building on the groundbreaking work of each organization and their previous collaborations – launching the Hindi language version of Girl Rising in India in 2015, celebrating every day gender equality champions around the world through the Girl Rising Creative Challenge in 2018, and the production and distribution of Brave Girl Rising earlier this year- HP and Girl Rising are now scaling efforts to improve learning outcomes and gender attitudes for both boys and girls.
HP continues to advance education opportunities for women and girls around the world. Last month during UN General Assembly, HP Inc. and UN Women signed an agreement to advance education, entrepreneurship and digital learning for women and girls in five priority countries: Senegal, South Africa, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Morocco.
HP’s partnership with UN Women through two UN Women initiatives – Second Chance Education and African Girls Can Code – possesses immense potential to both scale and address the lack of investment in women and affording them access to opportunities for career work and economic growth.
Both India and Nigeria have rapidly growing populations of young people with extreme numbers of children not in school – 41 percent of the population in Nigeria is under the age of 16, with 10.5 million out of school and India has the world’s largest population of 10-24 year-olds, 47 million of which will drop out of school by the 10th grade. The burden on education in both countries is overwhelming and new, innovative solutions are vital to advancing change.