L'Aquila (Italy), July 10 - Convincing her father to let her go to school has paid dividends for a teenaged Indian girl from a tribal area of Orissa. She has now rubbed shoulders with some of the most powerful people on this earth - such as US President Barack Obama - in this quake-hit Italian town.

Sanjukta Pangi, who is a Class 12 student at a government school in Karanjaguda village of Orissa's Koraput district, knows the struggle she has gone through to reach this far.

She is one of the 14 participating youngsters from different countries who are in Italy for the J8 (Junior 8) summit - an offshoot of the powerful G8, the group of world's most wealthy and industrialized countries.

'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,' Pangi, 16, said.

The 14 youngsters were selected to meet the top world leaders from G8 and G5 from among 54 youngsters aged between 14 and 17 years. They have come to attend the J8 summit in Rome, about 100 km from here.

At the meeting, the J8 representatives presented recommendations for the 14 leaders (G8, G5 and Egypt) attending the summit here. The youngsters called on their respective leaders to get tough with countries who don't meet climate change targets and teachers whose standards slip.