Class of 2020 Commencement Address - May 16, 2020

To all the graduates of 2020, like all of you, I am also missing my graduation ceremony this year. And we are not alone. Across the world, COVID-19 has forced more than 1 billion students out of school. But for most of us, this is temporary. We will continue our education and follow our dreams. But many girls, especially in developing countries, may never return to the classroom. Because of this crisis, they will be forced into early marriages or low-paying jobs to support their families. And when schools reopen, their desks will be empty. They are our peers. They have the same right to education as we do. So I ask you to remember them today. As you go out and change the world, don’t leave them behind. The class of 2020 won’t be defined by what we lost to this virus, but by how we responded to it. The world is yours now, and I can’t wait to see what you make of it.

Yousafzai. M. [CBS]. (2020, May 16). Malala Yousafzai Shares An Important Message For Graduates [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm0IgYiZEjQ]. Retrieved on June 9, 2020 from https://www.youtube.com/user/CBS.