Zanele Themba (on the left with the pink backpack strap) admires American teens because they "know what they want and go for it." She's posing with classmates from the Sapphire Secondary School who participated in a model U.N. in Johannesburg. Courtesy of Youth@SAIIA hide caption
Some of the 70 students at the Veerni Institute gather in the courtyard, waiting for the first bell to ring. Poulomi Basu/VII Mentor/for NPR hide caption
Nimmu, 15, on the terrace of the Veerni Institute. To stay in school, she needs to pass a national test this March. The problem: "I'm not a great student," she says. Because child marriage is illegal in India, we can't use her full name. Poulomi Basu/VII Photo hide caption
Fatmeh (left) fled Syria with her family and now lives in Lebanon, where she works in the fields instead of attending school. Jason Beaubien/NPR hide caption
Who's ahead in the baby tally these days — boys or girls? Newborns are ready to be counted in a Florida hospital. JOHN STANMEYER/National Geographic hide caption
Her best friend disappeared on the streets of San Salvador. That's when Aby Salas stopped leaving her house except to go to school. Encarni Pindado for NPR hide caption
Many fewer baby girls are born in India and China than the odds would predict. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption
She's a teenager with a cellphone, surfing the Internet. And she's a Syrian refugee who works in the fields up to 14 hours a day. That's the new life of 15-year-old Fatmeh, seen here in the living room area of her family's makeshift shelter. Dalia Khamissy for NPR hide caption
Kamala B.K. in front of her menstruation shed. Cecile Shrestha/WaterAid hide caption
Hadia Durani is 15. She says she wants to be president when she grows up. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption
Soccer buddies Lahis Maria Ramos Veras, 14 (left), and Milena Medeiros dos Santos, 16, don't let taunts keep them from playing. Lahis goes by the nickname "Lala." Lianne Milton for NPR hide caption
Now in tenth grade, Mulando is already planning how to negotiate her tuition for 11th grade. She's also trying to figure out how to get to medical school. Samantha Reinders for NPR hide caption
"The hardest thing for me was growing up without my mom. She had two jobs and so I spent a lot of time at my aunt's house," says Yasmine San Pedro, 23, in her #15Girls submission. Courtesy of Yasmine San Pedro hide caption