Malala’s Story-her fight for an education
In October 2012, a 15 year old girl was shot at close range on her way to school in Pakistan. Her crime? Her aspiration to attain an education. Malala Yousafzai has become extremely well known as she miraculously survived this attempt on her life. She was targeted as she was fighting for her right, and for the right of girls, for education.
She has been blogging from the age of 11 on the BBC Urdu website of her struggles under the Taliban regime, she described her pains and the worries of her peers in trying to better their lives. You can read more here.
At CARE, we work hard to ensure that children are not discriminated against because of their sex. We focus on both girls and boys, but are very aware of the cultural norms that exist in many settings whereby girls can be disadvantaged. We work with the family unit as a whole to teach them the importance of educating their daughters as well as their sons.
There have been occasions when our partner organisations have spoken to the families of girls that have had to leave school and not complete their education due to their duties at home. We work by providing compromises and extra tuition for children that do not have the time to study at home.
Malala’s voice has been heard; she has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, with nominations from nations such as France, Norway and Canada. It is a shame that she had to undergo such brutal violence to be heard, but we want to work together to ensure no other child has to suffer a fate such as this for their right to education. We want to provide underprivileged children with the opportunity of an education to better their lives.
Malala has achieved her dream, and has been given the opportunity of an education here in the UK.
Let’s work together to ensure every child has the chance of an education.