Prize-winning photographer sees education gap narrow

Imane Tirich is one of six young photographers who will be travelling to Cannes this week to accept a Sony World Photography Award sponsored by UNICEF and the World Photography Organization.

Along with other young advocate/photographers from Romania, Israel, Brazil, New Zealand and the USA, Ms. Tirich set out to capture an image relevant to the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

This week's Monday photo focuses on a child's right to education.

Elizabeth Kiem is the online producer for unicefusa.org.

Imane Tirich is one of six young photographers who will be travelling to Cannes this week to accept a Sony World Photography Award sponsored by UNICEF and the World Photography Organization.

Along with other young advocate/photographers from Romania, Israel, Brazil, New Zealand and the USA, Ms. Tirich set out to capture an image relevant to the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

This week's Monday photo focuses on a child's right to education.

What I love about 18-year-old Tirich's photo is its timeless quality. Wash it in sepia and it could easily date to the 19th century.

Or could it? Look at it closely--study the composition and the positioning of the three subjects.

The photographer spells it out: "Despite the inequality between boys and girls, the teacher gives his attention to the girl," writes Ms. Tirich.

Now there's a photographer with a sharp eye.

Of the 101 million school-age children around the world who do not attend school, the majority are girls. But it's a slim majority, and the gap is closing.

In many regions, primary school attendance rates are nearly equal between girls and boys, but there are still too many communities where a traditional bias against education for girls has relegated young women to lives marred by labor, early marriage and poverty.

Increasing girls' enrollment in schools and ensuring that they receive a quality education is a staple of UNICEF programming from Kenya to India to Sudan.

If only every teacher could be as attentive as this one--and every photographer as astute to the real importance of this "Norman Rockwell in Morocco" tableau as 18-year-old Imane Tirich.

Expect to see more of these photographers, all of whom have won a week-long photography workshop in Ethiopia sponsored by UNICEF.