By Ayesha Iftiqhar
A few days back,
I was asked to write an article emphasising the importance of education and
that’s when I realised how little I know about the topic. I took a pen and a
sheet of paper and sat down to write and after an hour I found myself staring
at a blank sheet of paper. Disappointed with myself, I gave up. Luckily, I
stumbled across an amazing article by Sam Harris- “No ordinary violence” and
that’s when I read about this dauntless young girl- MALALA YOUSAFZI. Surely I was familiar with her story, but today I
was drawn to learn more about her and was instantly inspired.
Malala began her fight
against the ban on girl education by the Taliban at the age of 11, when she started
blogging under the pseudonym Gul
Makai in which she
discussed life (specifically education) under the Taliban. This was later published
by BBC Urdu. If her identity was ever revealed it was obvious that she would
suffer grave consequences. Yet she continued to write and educate other
individuals about the conditions in Pakistan and her views on promoting
education for girls. She soon rose in
prominence, a documentary of her life was filmed and she began giving
interviews in print and on television, and she was nominated for the
International Children’s Peace Prize. A year ago, she was shot in the head in an
assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home in a school bus
after taking an exam, as a result of her non-compliance.
But the bullet intended
to kill the 15 year old girl, only made her stronger and made her realise the
power of a girl with a book. She continued advocating education for children,
even while she was aware that the Taliban had reiterated its intent to kill
her. She later started the Malala petition, which was signed by 3 million
people. She believes that- One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can
change the world.
The
UN launched a petition in her name, using the slogan “I am Malala” and demanded
that all children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015. The UN also
knighted 12th of July as Malala day, to which she responded that Malala
day is not her day, but instead is the day of all those people who have raised their
voice for their rights. She was featured as one of “The 100 Most Influential
People in the World” and was nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.
Malala
is now recognised as a universal face for children’s education, a winner of numerous
prestigious awards and mostly as a winner of millions of hearts. She is an
inspiration beyond measure and a role model who showed us all that we should
never give up on a cause we believe in. But to me, she is the girl who
re-educated the world about the importance and the power of education.
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