Education should be a fundamental human right for every person weather they are a child, adult, boy or girl.
Then why is it that approximately twice as many males as females receive secondary education in Pakistan?
The Taliban is a major reason why there is a lack of female education in Pakistan, in effort to abolish female education altogether the have destroyed 401 schools in swat , because they believe girls should not be educated, or for that matter, even leave the house. In swat they worked viciously to make sure residents obeyed. Woman seeking education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. This shows how badly these woman wanted to be educated! and how clearly their basic human rights to an education and equality are being denied by the brutal Taliban.
Although there have been many international protests against the Taliban, the Taliban justify themselves by saying they only follow the laws of their Islamic god and will not obey the laws of the government.
Unfortunately in the 1990’s organization’s such as UNICEF and Save the Children withdrew support in Pakistan for various reasons.
The problems in Pakistan to do with female education were brought into the headlines by the social actions of Malala Yousafzai. Around the time the Taliban began attacking the girls’ schools in swat, in September 2008, Malala who was only 11 at the time gave a speech at a local press club titled “How Dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?”.
Then in 2009 she began blogging for the BBC about living under the Taliban’s threat to deny her an education, she wrote under the name Gul Makai, to hide her identity from the Taliban. Malala also continued to speak out about her right, and the right of all woman, to an education.
When she was 14, Malala and her family learned that the Taliban had issued a death threat against her because she was speaking out about female education.
Then On October 9, 2012, on her way home from school, a man boarded the bus Malala was riding on and demanded to know which girl was Malala.
The gunman fired at her, hitting Malala in the left side of her head; the bullet then traveled down her neck. But by some sort of miracle Malala survived the shooting. This unfortunate event put Malala into international headlines
Malala went onto write a book called “I am Malala”. She still continues to speak out about the right to education despite ongoing threats from the Taliban. The actions of Malala have been extremely effective, she has brought to light the problems and helped people become aware of the breaches of human rights in Pakistan. She has become a worldwide symbol of courage and hope.
“I truly believe the only way we can create global peace is through not only educating our minds, but our hearts and souls”-Malala Yousafzai
What I think we can learn from this is that the courage of someone fighting for what they believe in is something powerful and we should apply that courage in our lives and strive to be more like Malala.
Female education is a large issue that is found all around the globe and from the brave actions of Malala the issue has finally been brought to the attention of all countries.
Daniella