Sixteen-year-old Sanjukta Pangi’s small village of Karanjaguda, Orissa is a world away from L’Aguila, Italy where the G8 leaders are meeting this week. On Thursday, this young leader had the opportunity to meet personally with Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to tell him her desire for all Indian children, especially girls, to have access to quality education.

‘If I could ask the world’s leaders to prioritize one thing to help children, it would be education,” says Sanjukta, who has travelled from Orissa to attend the Junior 8, a youth summit being held in parallel to the G8 meeting. “I had to struggle to go to school. If I hadn’t convinced my father to let me continue going to school I would not be at the J8.”

Sanjukta was among 14 teen-agers between the ages of 14-17 who were selected by their peers to meet the global leaders. Young people from India, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the UK , USA, Brazil, China, Egypt, Mexico and South Africa are attending the week-long event.

The 52 members of the J8 released a declaration and plan calling for action to address issues in education, climate change, children’s rights in the context of the global financial crisis and poverty and development in Africa. The J8 aims to make sure that the G8 and non-G8 leaders listen to young people’s voices when they make decisions that affect them.

While Sanjukta travelled to L’Aquila, her two other team members, 14-year-old Narendra Kumar from Pure Gosain, Uttar Pradesh and 17-year-old Samuel Venkatesen, from Shoolagiri, Tamil Nadu, met with members of the Italian parliament.

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