Image Courtesy : www.facebook.com/EduCannotWait

On February 11, Education Cannot Wait named Somaya Faruqi as a global champion in the celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Education Cannot Wait is the UNs’ global fund for education during emergencies and prolonged crises.

Somaya Faruqi is a mechanical engineering student at Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T). Faruqi is also the former captain of the Afghanistan girls’ robotics team. She earned international headlines when her high school team, the “Afghan Dreamers,” developed a ventilator from used car parts in comeback to the covid pandemic.

Faruqi will headline a panel discussion on Afghanistan as an advocate for Education Cannot Wait at the organization’s High-Level Financing Conference on February 16-17 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Faruqi said I am honored to receive my appointment as Education Cannot Wait’s Global champion on behalf of all the girls worldwide who dream against all odds of an education. These are the forthcoming scientists and administrators of tomorrow. So many are left behind. She said we must unite in our measures to ensure girls everywhere can get high-quality science, engineering, math, and technology education and discover our cooperative dreams of a better, more equal world for everyone.

Somaya Faruqi was born in Herat, Afghanistan. She developed her love of engineering in her father’s mechanics shop. She and her teammates fled the country in August 2021 due to the Taliban takeover. One year later, she commenced her college studies at Missouri S&T. In the month of September, Faruqi talked about education equality at the UN General Assembly in New York City.

“Somaya Faruqi is a brilliant example to us all that with bravery, hope, and determination, we can make sure every girl and every boy across the world can experience the hope and opportunity that only a high-quality education can deliver,” states Yasmine Sherif, executive director of Education Cannot Wait.

Yasmine added as our global champion, Somaya Faruqi will advocate for the world’s 222 million crisis-affected girls and boys who urgently need our support. She is the look of a new generation of young leaders and the face of the Afghanistan people at their best – profound, brilliant, proud, and unstoppable.