In January this year, Rihanna, the music icon visited Malawi to learn about the educational challenges facing students in the country. She also aimed at helping to convince world leaders to commit $3.1 billion, to funding the global partnership for education.
During her visit, the singer took a turn in class. She taught math, read with the kids and led chants on the play ground.
Sharing her observation with the press, Rihanna under her Clara Lionel Foundation informed that a large percentage of students in Malawi drop out of school because of very long distances from their homes to the schools and vice versa.
She however also appreciated the way children are taught melodically.
“I love that they learn in melody. That is like my favorite thing. Kids adopt melody really, really quickly. And so if you can use that as a learning tool, I think that is the most brilliant, brilliant thing,” Rihanna commented on her finding.
“It’s such a pity that they have to drop out, because they are so smart. Everybody is learning together, and learning at the same pace it seems. It is sad that has to end for some of them, because they could probably do so much of they had the resources to continue and complete,” she was reported explaining in the then report.
Devising means on how to help out with the challenges, Rihanna and her Clara Lionel Foundation teamed up with a Beijing – based bike share, called ofo, in their five year partnership called “1 KM Action”.
The initiative will help donate bikes to combat some of the regional transportation challenges contributing to Malawi’s high drop-out rates.
It is reported that although 4.6 million children attend primary school in Malawi, only 8 percent complete secondary education. However, even from the 8 percent, most of them are boys.
The drop- out rate is higher for girls, for various reasons, transportation being one of them.
In a statement released on Wednesday this week, Rihanna expressed her gratitude towards her foundation and ofo’s partnership, and also assured Malawi girls will get to school safely.
“I’m so happy about the Clara Lionel Foundation’s new partnership with ofo because it will help so many young people around the world receive a quality education,” she said in a statement.
“This will also help young girls of Malawi get to school safely, cutting down those very long walks they make to and from school all alone.”
Rihanna also assured that the initiative has already sent the first batch of bikes to Malawi. They will also provide scholarships for Malawian girls through the CLF’s Global Scholarship Program.
Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) was founded by Rihanna in 2012, in the honor of her grandparents.
Reporter: Shamilah Namuddu
