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| Michelle Obama in UK: Education is ultimate key to success | Michelle Obama in UK: Education is ultimate key to success |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| US First Lady Michelle Obama has told pupils at a girls' school in east London that education is the "ultimate key" to their success. | US First Lady Michelle Obama has told pupils at a girls' school in east London that education is the "ultimate key" to their success. |
| Mrs Obama, wife of President Barack, told pupils at Mulberry School for Girls their "amazing education" gave them all they needed to succeed. | Mrs Obama, wife of President Barack, told pupils at Mulberry School for Girls their "amazing education" gave them all they needed to succeed. |
| She also launched the Let Girls Learn initiative to boost education globally for adolescent girls. | She also launched the Let Girls Learn initiative to boost education globally for adolescent girls. |
| Earlier she met Prince Harry to discuss service personnel families' issues. | Earlier she met Prince Harry to discuss service personnel families' issues. |
| Mrs Obama told pupils at the school in Tower Hamlets the world needed "more girls like you to lead our parliaments, our courtrooms and universities". | |
| In a speech, she said: "With an education from this amazing school you all have everything, everything you need to rise above all of the noise and fulfil every last one of your dreams. | |
| "And it is so important that you do that, not just for yourselves but for all of us. | "And it is so important that you do that, not just for yourselves but for all of us. |
| "Because you all have a unique perspective, you have a unique voice to add to the conversation." | "Because you all have a unique perspective, you have a unique voice to add to the conversation." |
| Analysis | |
| Ben Geoghegan, BBC News | |
| This was a very personal - and at moments, emotional - speech, delivered directly to the girls at Mulberry School rather than for the ranks of cameras at the back of the room. | |
| The school is in an area of high deprivation. Most of its students are from the Bangladeshi community and, for most, English is an "additional" language. | |
| The First Lady compared her upbringing with theirs. As a black teenager on the south side of Chicago she remembered people telling her not to set her sights too high. She broke down the barriers to success. | |
| She urged the schoolgirls in east London to do the same and to fulfil their dreams. | |
| The "ambitious, confident and principled" students at the Mulberry School were inspired. | |
| The question is whether Mrs Obama's message will be heard in those parts of the world where girls don't go to school at all. | |
| In her address, Mrs Obama spoke of her own upbringing, saying in her youth there were few black women in positions of power. | |
| But she said her parents realised education was the "ultimate key" to success and she could be successful if she worked hard at school. | |
| She said: "Through it all my parents fully expected us to do both: to achieve our dreams and be there for our family. | She said: "Through it all my parents fully expected us to do both: to achieve our dreams and be there for our family. |
| "And they also knew that a good education was the ultimate key to our success. | "And they also knew that a good education was the ultimate key to our success. |
| "My parents told me every day I could do anything. I could grow up to be a doctor, a lawyer a scientist, whatever, but only if I worked as hard as I could to succeed in school." | |
| Tea at the palace | |
| Prince Harry earlier hosted Mrs Obama for tea at Kensington Palace, where they discussed support for veterans and their families. | |
| The meeting came two years after the prince attended a mother's day tea for military mothers with Mrs Obama in the United States. | |
| She will later visit Downing Street for tea with Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha. | She will later visit Downing Street for tea with Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha. |
| Writing in the Financial Times, Mrs Obama said figures which suggested more than 62 million girls across the world did not go to school were a "heartbreaking injustice". | |
| Forced marriages, early pregnancies, abuse and sexism were some of the obstacles to education faced by girls around the world, she said. | Forced marriages, early pregnancies, abuse and sexism were some of the obstacles to education faced by girls around the world, she said. |
| "That kind of life is unthinkable for the girls in our lives, so why would we accept this fate for any girl on this planet?" she wrote. | "That kind of life is unthinkable for the girls in our lives, so why would we accept this fate for any girl on this planet?" she wrote. |
| The US party will fly on to Italy after the London trip to meet US armed services families based in Europe, and to continue to promote Mrs Obama's work to encourage healthy eating among children. | The US party will fly on to Italy after the London trip to meet US armed services families based in Europe, and to continue to promote Mrs Obama's work to encourage healthy eating among children. |
| She is being accompanied on her trip by her mother Marian Robinson and two daughters Sasha and Malia. | She is being accompanied on her trip by her mother Marian Robinson and two daughters Sasha and Malia. |