In her address at the UN Security Council recently, First Lady Melania Trump talked about making education accessible for all. The Security Council’s presidency rotates each month. This month it was the US’s turn to head the proceedings, where Mrs Trump spoke earnestly about bringing peace through education in today’s strife-torn world. While the idea appears noble, it is the intent that leaves much to be desired. Though the First Lady’s intent is “rooted in the concept of ‘democratising knowledge’ for everyone in this ‘age of imagination’”.

Contradictions in policy and practice

It is a noble thought indeed, but one that is fraught with many contradictions. To start with, for a country that projects itself as the protector of children’s rights, there has hardly been any concrete step taken by the US under Trump to end the genocide in Gaza. In fact, early last year, he promoted the idea that Palestinians should relocate to other areas permanently and had declared to all and sundry that America would take over the Gaza Strip and “do a real job with it”. He shared his vision of the Gaza Strip at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

That the number of children killed or maimed in Gaza by October 2025 had reached a staggering 64,000, according to a statement by the UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, seemed of little or no consequence to Mr and Mrs Trump, who have stayed mum on the issue. Neither did the duo........

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