Malala Yousafzai -
12 July 1997 -
(Source:
The Look
Up To Project)
“I think of it often and imagine the
scene clearly. Even if they come to kill me, I will tell them what
they are trying to do is wrong, that education is our basic right.” |
"Malala
Yousafzai (born 12 July 1997) is a Pakistani school pupil and education
activist from the town of Mingora in the Swat District of Pakistan's
northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
She is known for her activism for rights to education and for women,
especially in the Swat Valley, where the Taliban had at times banned girls
from attending school. In early 2009, at the age of 11–12, Yousafzai wrote a
blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her life under Taliban rule,
their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting
education for girls. The following summer, a New York Times documentary was
filmed about her life as the Pakistani military intervened in the region,
culminating in the Second Battle of Swat. Yousafzai rose in prominence,
giving interviews in print and on television, and she was nominated for the
International Children's Peace Prize by South African activist Desmond Tutu.
On 9 October 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck in an
assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home on a school
bus.
(Source:
Pukhtunkhwa Times)
In the days immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious
and in critical condition, but later her condition improved enough for her
to be sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, for
intensive rehabilitation. On 12 October, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in
Pakistan issued a fatwā against those who tried to kill her, but the Taliban
reiterated its intent to kill Yousafzai and her father.
The assassination attempt sparked a national and international outpouring of
support for Yousafzai. Deutsche Welle wrote in January 2013 that Yousafzai
may have become "the most famous teenager in the world." United Nations
Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown launched a UN petition in
Yousafzai's name, using the slogan "I am Malala" and demanding that all
children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015 – a petition which helped
lead to the ratification of Pakistan's first Right to Education Bill.
In the
29 April 2013 issue of Time magazine, Yousafzai was featured on the
magazine's front cover and as one of "The 100 Most Influential People in the
World". She was the winner of Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize
and was nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize (although Yousafzai was
widely tipped to win the prize, it was awarded to the Organisation for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons).
On 12 July 2013, Yousafzai spoke at the UN
to call for worldwide access to education, and in September 2013 she
officially opened the Library of Birmingham. Yousafzai is the recipient of
the Sakharov Prize for 2013. On 16 October 2013 the Government of Canada
announced its intention that the Parliament of Canada confer Honorary
Canadian citizenship upon Yousafzai."
On 10 October 2014, Yousafzai
was announced as the co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for her
struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the
right of all children to education. At age 17, Yousafzai is the
youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate.
Yousafzai shared the prize with Kailash Satyarthi, a children's rights
activist from India.
She is the second Pakistani to receive a Nobel Prize and the only Pakistani
winner of the Nobel Peace Prize; Abdus Salam was a 1979 Physics laureate. (Source:
Wikipedia)
Links:
Did You Know?
Around the world, girls face
barriers to education that boys do not.
But when you educate a girl you can break cycles of poverty in just
one generation.
These statistics offer insights on the current status of girls’
education, and also illustrate the lasting impact education has on
girls, families, communities and nations around the world.
1. Globally, 66 million girls out of school. (UNESCO)
2. There are 33 million fewer girls than boys in primary school
(Education First)
3. 14 million girls under 18 will be married this year; 38 thousand
today; 13 girls in the
last 30 seconds. (UNFPA)
4. The #1 cause of death for girls 15-19 is childbirth. (World
Health Organization)
5. Girls with 8 years of education are 4 times less likely to be
married as children.
(National Academies Press)
6. A child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive
past the age of 5.
(UNESCO)
7. Educated mothers are more than twice as likely to send their
children to school.
(UNICEF)
8. School is not free in over 50 countries. (UNESCO)
9. A girl on planet earth has a 1 in 4 chance of being born into
poverty. (The World Bank)
10. A girl with an extra year of education can earn 20% more as an
adult.
(The World Bank)
10. Women operate a majority of small farms and business in the
developing world.
(Focus on Five)
11. If India enrolled 1% more girls in secondary school, their GDP
would rise by $5.5
billion. (CIA World Factbook) (Global Campaign for Education and
RESULTS
Education Fund)
12. There are 600 million girls in the developing world. (The World
Bank)
(Source:
Girl Rising) |
Injustices
righted?
Primary
Middle Secondary
Australian
Curriculum General Capability: Literacy
Australian
Curriculum General Capability: Intercultural Understanding
Australian
Curriculum General Capability:
Critical and creative thinking
Australian
Curriculum General Capability:
Personal and social capability
1. Go to the
Australian Human Rights Commission - Children's Rights website
and investigate. There is so much here to discover.
2. Choose an area that
you are interested in Latest
News.
3. Read about the area you have selected.
4. Comment or voice your opinion on
kids@humanrights.gov.au
Why
is Education so important?
Middle Secondary
Australian
Curriculum General Capability: Intercultural Understanding
Australian
Curriculum General Capability:
Literacy
Philosophy
1. Read the
Malala's story: I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for
Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. [this
book is on the NSW Year 12 Reading List]
Published in 2013
2.
Read
the following article from
The Telegraph
(Source:
October 2013, The Telegraph)
"Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by
the Taliban over her fight for universal education, urged people in war-torn
countries to swap guns for pens and focus on schooling their children.
The 16-year-old activist, who was targeted by the Islamic extremists while
travelling on a school bus in her native Pakistan last October, received a
standing ovation after speaking at the launch of her memoir, I Am Malala, at
London’s Southbank Centre.
She said: “You are not powerful if you have a gun, because with a gun you
can only kill.
“You are powerful when you have a book, when you have pen because through a
pen you can save lives and that's the change we want to bring in our
society.”
The teenager claimed the “terrorists” who had taken over Pakistan’s Swat
Valley region stopped her and her female friends going to school because
they feared the power of learning.
“When they came to Swat, and when they banned girls education, then I
realised that these terrorists are afraid of the power of education,” she
said.
“They are not letting women to be empowered, that's why they are stopping us
from going to school.”
She described the "barbaric situation" as going back to the Stone Age.
She said: “We were told that the only job for women is to cook, is to serve
her husband, is to serve her father, her brothers, is to clean the house, is
to do work for children, is to feed them.
"It's her job, it's why she has been created, that's the mindset of these
terrorists.
“But I think the terrorists haven't read the Koran.”
Malala, who hopes to one day study at Oxford or Cambridge Universities, said
she understood it was human nature to fight.
But she added: "Competition must be on the basis of how many educated
children do you have. What's the rate of literacy?
"We need to change the ideology, we need to tell people what the real power
is."
Speaking about countries such as Afghanistan and Syria, she said: "Instead
of sending guns, send pens. Instead of sending tanks, send books.
"Instead of sending soldiers to these suffering countries, send teachers."
Malala's appearance as part of the Literature Autumn Season 2013 came just a
day after she received a standing ovation from a 1,000-strong audience after
being presented with an honorary degree at Edinburgh University.
After last year's attack Malala was treated at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in
Birmingham and she now lives in the city with her family and is studying for
her GCSEs.
Recently voted one of the 100 most influential people in the world, Malala
began blogging for the BBC in 2009 about her life in Pakistan and her desire
to attend school safely and freely.
Her increasing profile in the global media and her campaigns for universal
education and women's rights brought her to the attention of the Taliban.
Following the attack she needed emergency treatment and surgeons who treated
her said she came within inches of death when the bullet grazed her brain in
the shooting.
Since then she has also addressed the United Nations and was nominated for
the Nobel peace prize. "
(Source:
October 2013, The Telegraph)
3.
Hold a Socratic Discussion using the resources listed below.
Why
is Education so important?
Does it change outcomes for students?
Is there a better outcome for girls obtaining education? A Global
Perspective!
Resources for Socratic Discussion:
Material sourced from
The Telegraph (UK)
The Look Up To
Project
Wikipedia
|