Safina Hussain: Empowering Girls' Education, Honoured with the Ramon Magsaysay Award

By Afroz Khan, New Age Islam 8 September 2025 Safina Hussain, through her organization Educate Girls, has transformed the lives of over 20 lakh girls in India by ensuring access to education. Starting in Rajasthan, her initiatives like Pragati help girls resume studies, earning her prestigious awards like the 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Award. Main Points: 1. Safina Hussain founded Educate Girls to promote girls' education in India. 2. Started in Rajasthan, now covers 30,000 villages with 55,000 volunteers. 3. Enrolled over 20 lakh girls in schools, focusing on dropouts. 4. Initiated Pragati for girls to resume studies via open school. 5. Won multiple awards, including the 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Award. ----- There are lakhs of girls in India who have to leave their studies midway because of school being far away, marriage, household responsibilities, There are many girls in rural areas who have never gone to school, they want to study but do not get the opportunity. Such girls need a chance and support to fulfil their dreams, to fly high with their hopes, to complete their education, to create their own identity, to become self-reliant. This opportunity and support was given to them by "Safina Hussain" and her organization "Educate Girls". With her visionary initiative and strong willpower, Safina Hussain completely changed the lives of lakhs of girls and gave them the precious gift of education. In one of her interviews given in 2023, Safina Hussain said that "I Want to see a world where every girl in a school is experiencing the joy of learning where every girl has excess equal opportunities ensuring that she has choices and she has a voice. Safina Hussain is a great example of women empowerment who took a pledge to educate girls. By overcoming every obstacle, she has brought the future of many girls out of darkness. Personal Life Safina Hussain was born on 21 January 1971 in New Delhi. Her father was the famous Bollywood actor Mr Yusuf Husain. Her mother's name was Usha. Safina Hussain left her studies after passing 12th due to some personal reasons. She says that "I did nothing for three years. Then everyone started saying: 'Get her married. What else is left?'" Then one of her aunts "Mahe Hasan" extended a helping hand to Safina Hussain and said “give me the responsibility of this girl”. With the help of her aunt, Safina started further studies. She obtained a degree in Development Studies (LSE) from the London School of Economics. The help given by her aunt for her education and this experience created an awareness in her life. She realized that what she felt in her life is the same experience many girls in India have to go through. They too need a helping hand to complete their studies. Just like her aunt helped her, Safina extended a helping hand to millions of girls in India. She says, “I have experienced the power of education, and my education has made me who I am today,” Safina Hussain understood the importance of education and she returned to India in 2005 with a mission to “improve the percentage of education among girls” and provide them better opportunities. Journey Of "Educate Girl" Foundation Safina Hussain worked in "Pratham Sanstha" to gain experience of this work before starting her own organization. In a country like India, where even today people's thinking about girl education is very backward, girl education is not given any importance in rural areas. In such an environment, motivating the parents of girls for their education was not an easy task at all. Safina Hussain chose those areas to start her campaign where the percentage of girls' education was very low. She started it from a small village near Bhilwara in Rajasthan. When Safina Hussain went to that village and knocked on the door of a house to ask if their daughter goes to school, Safina had a very bitter experience. Her question was rejected outright and they refused to share any information, but Safina Hussain did not give up, she went to that house not once but four times but every time she was disappointed and that woman flatly refused to send her daughter to school. This is the biggest irony of our India that many times in the education of girls, their mothers show negligence towards their education. Safina Hussain did not give up from this bitter experience and once again went to that village and this time she explained to the father of that girl, told him the importance of education, her hard work and dedication paid off, the positive response received from the father of that girl gave a new energy to the efforts of Safina Hussain. Safina Hussain's organization "Educate Girls" ensures that no girl in the identified areas is left untouched by education. Her organization works in many phases to fulfill its objective. First of all, a ground level survey is done to find out how many girls do not go to school or have left studies for some reason. After identifying the girls, their families and girls are motivated for education and they are enrolled in the nearby school. Safina Hussain is not relieved of her duty by merely enrolling the girl, rather her workers visit from time to time to ensure that the girl is regularly attending school or not and that her academic progress is being monitored. Safina Hussain says that “I truly believe that we women will not be equal unless that last girl has equality. That is why we have to ensure that every girl accesses the right to an education.” The organization "Educate Girl" has started another mission named "Pragati". This is for those girls who have left their studies midway due to some reason. Such girls are ensured further education through open school. This campaign of Safina Hussain started from 50 villages and has reached 30,000 villages today and it works in 4 states. 55,000 volunteers have joined her convoy. Her organization has so far enrolled more than 20 lakh girls in schools and the figure is constantly increasing. Safina Hussain has received many awards for her noble work In 2014 and 2023, Safina Hussain won the WISE Award. WISE is an award given in Qatar for outstanding contribution to education. An amount of $500,000 was also given to Educate Girls with the 2023 award. In 2019, she received the ET Prime Women Leadership Award. In 2017, she was the winner of the NITI Aayog Women Transforming India Award. In 2016, she became the winner of the NDTV-L'Oreal Paris Women of Worth Award Won the 2015 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. The biggest achievement of Safina Hussain and her organization Educate Girl is the "Ramon Magsaysay Award 2025". It is a matter of great pride that Safina Hussain's organization is the first non-profit organization from India to receive this award. Safina Hussain is a lively, cheerful and influential woman. In her 2 decades of noble work, she has set many milestones and changed the condition and direction of the lives of millions of girls. We hope that her campaign continues to move forward and Safina Hussain reaches out to the last marginalized girl. ----- Afroz Khan is a teacher by profession, focusing on writings about women and Islam. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/safina-girls-education-ramon-magsaysay-award/d/136755 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism