Asia's post-pandemic priorities must include education for girls

Governments need to plan now to reignite progress made before pre-COVID-19

Marina Mahathir and Laura Deal Lacey

September 3, 2021 05:00 JST

Internally displaced women and children rest inside their tent in a public park in Kabul on Aug. 13: economic and social opportunities are unlikely to continue unchanged for young women. © AP

Marina Mahathir is a writer and women's rights activist in Malaysia. Laura Deal Lacey is executive director of the Milken Institute. Both serve on the board of trustees of the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Latifa and Hakima, two ethnic Hazara girls from a remote village in Afghanistan, were thrilled when they gained entry in 2011 to the privately-run Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh.