Katrina Kaif at the NDTV-L'Oreal's Women of Worth Awards.
It is knowledge that is the source of power, actor Katrina Kaif said at the
NDTV-L'Oreal's Women of Worth Awards on Monday evening.
"You are as powerful as what you know. Education and knowledge is where we get our power from... Education is the way towards gender equality, to change people's mindsets," said
Ms Kaif, who was invited to distribute the award for education, titled "In a class of their own".
Pointing out that this category of education was "personal to her", Ms Kaif said, "My mom has worked in a charitable organisation to educate kids. I understand the work that goes in without any recognition."
People working in this field are "giving back love to a world where fear is bigger than love," she added.
The award went to Safeena Husain, the Founder and CEO of non-profit Educate Girls. Set up in 2007, the NGO has been tackling the root cause of gender inequality in India's education system pushing to enroll more girls, improving school infrastructure and preventing drop-outs.
Asked what led her to work in this field, Ms Husain said, "India has the highest number child brides... There was a lack of scalable solutions to girls' education."
In the circumstances, it is absolutely necessary to "change minds" and for that "scale was absolutely necessary," she added.
Ms Husain was among the
eight women to be presented with the NDTV-L'Oreal's Women of Worth awards on Monday.
The others included Sreemoyee Piu Kundu for literature, Vani Kola for entrepreneurship, Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai for innovation, Neha Kirpal for Art, Pwilao Basumatary for sport, Ajaita Shah for environment and Suparna Gupta for social work.