UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hannan Suleman on 13 October 2026 lauded India's decade-long advances in girls' education and welfare, saying the country's progress carries consequences well beyond its own borders. The remarks came at a joint event organised by India and Sierra Leone at the United Nations to mark the International Day of the Girl Child.

UNICEF's Assessment of India's Progress

Over the past decade, girls' education has improved significantly, reflecting growing recognition of girls' value within families in India, Suleman said. She pointed to India's demographic weight as a key reason for the global stakes: India is home to the world's largest adolescent population, with 253 million adolescents, she noted, adding that progress for girls in India has significance far beyond its borders.

Suleman credited a combination of sustained financial commitment, large-scale community engagement, and policy action for driving what she called 'real, meaningful change' — a template she suggested other nations could study.

India's Envoy Cites Personal Experience

India's Permanent Representative P. Harish drew on his own academic background to illustrate how dramatically the landscape has shifted. Recalling his time as a mechanical engineering student at Osmania University College of Engineering in Hyderabad, he said there were no women in his class — a field then considered exclusively male.

'Today, almost 70 per cent of the class in my university are girls,' he said. 'So, it is making real progress in our own lifetimes.' Harish also flagged the remaining frontier: artificial intelligence. 'We only hear of tech bros. We don't hear of tech sisters,' he observed, calling on UN member states to ensure the emerging AI domain becomes 'girl-friendly and women-friendly.'

On the domestic front, Harish said India is deploying digital public infrastructure (DPI) as a force multiplier for girls' education, and that AI is increasingly being used to develop child-focused tutoring materials to improve educational outcomes.

Voices From Sierra Leone, Liberia and Algeria

Sierra Leone's Deputy Foreign Minister Jeneba Bangura argued that investing in girls is a force multiplier at every level of society. 'When we invest in a girl, we strengthen families, communities, nations, and build a more peaceful, fair, and prosperous world,' she said. Bangura declared that Sierra Leone is proud to join India and other partners in seeking a world where a girl's birthplace does not determine her future.

Liberia's Permanent Representative Lewis Brown offered a powerful historical example, recalling how Liberian women mobilised communities during the country's civil wars between 1989 and 2003. The organisation Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace is credited with compelling leaders to hold peace talks that ended the second civil war in 2003. 'For Liberia, the truth simply is, women help secure our peace,' Brown said.

Algeria's Permanent Ambassador Amar Bendjama framed girls' rights as a collective investment: 'Investing in girls' rights, in their well-being, in their opportunities, is therefore an investment in our shared future.' He too underscored the importance of digital education for girls.

What This Signals for the Global Girls' Agenda

The event reflected a growing international consensus that national progress on girls' education — particularly in high-population countries such as India — has outsized global consequences. This comes amid renewed multilateral attention to gender equity in the digital age, with AI governance and digital literacy emerging as the next battleground for gender inclusion. Whether India's DPI-driven model can be adapted by lower-income countries with weaker digital infrastructure remains an open question that multilateral agencies are expected to address in the months ahead.