(Originally published in The Huffington Post)
The Nigerian terror group Boko Haram could have chosen many things to wage war on. They chose education. In particular, girls’ education. Terrorists of all stripes — from the Taliban of Pakistan to Boko Haram in Nigeria understand that they only prevail when they keep girls out of school. Young people around the world are responding in a defiant manner: mobilizing for education in a way that has never before been seen and calling for world leaders to respond urgently to the global education crisis. Young people understand that the best investment in our future is education — and as Malala said at the first Youth Takeover in New York last July, the weapon the terrorists fear most is a girl with a book. We are calling on governments to step up their efforts in this fight for our future.