In a few hours, I’ll be waking up, getting ready, and going to school. In all likelihood, so will you. Chances are that at some point, we will each complain about school, too. But hey, at least we’ll have something to complain about without having our lives threatened. The same cannot be said for Malala Yousafzai and countless other girls living in the Swat Valley, in Northern Pakistan.
If you haven’t been following the news lately, here’s a bit of background – in 2007, Taliban militants took control of then popular tourist destination, Swat Valley. With their arrival came the implementation of several extremist beliefs – chief among them the notion of restricting access to education. Under the rule of the Taliban, girls’ schools were shut down, and young females were prohibited from attending school. As you can imagine, the girls in the region were not exactly pleased with the circumstances. Malala, then an 11 year old girl, began blogging for the BBC while using a pseudonym. In these blogs, Malala highlighted the trials and tribulations of living in a Taliban controlled region. She spoke of the stress of living in a war zone, and of the necessity of education for young girls.
By the fall of 2009, after the Second Battle of Swat, the Taliban had officially been ousted from the region, and Malala began receiving global recognition for her courage in her advocacy for girls’ education. However, Malala was also receiving death threats from lingering remains of the Taliban. This all culminated in an attempted assassination this past week, in which Malala was shot in the head and the neck.
Now, most of the time, I try to offer a balanced view on things, presenting both sides of the argument and whatnot. In this case, however, I strongly believe that the situation is VERY black and white. Under no circumstances should education be restricted, and especially not to half the population. I can’t even call these actions outdated or radical, as nothing in the teachings of Islam (Qu’ran, Hadiths, et al.) suggests that women should not have access to education. On the contrary, education is a highly valued asset in Islamic culture. Now, I’m not here to preach the “true” teachings of Islam, but my point is that the people who attempted to murder Malala for speaking out about her education are more than misguided – they are twisted individuals who have no understanding of how the world works.
Education is one of the most powerful tools one can be offered, and without it, countries like Pakistan will continue to be mired in the hate and chaos that we see today. Education is what allows individuals to gain an understanding of the world; to grant them the ability to recognise issues, and to resolve them. Malala exhibited true courage and is showing us exactly why young girls need an education: they have the potential to be brilliant, compassionate world changers, and I think we can all agree that the world could use some changing. The fact that we still have people trying to suppress the education of a generation of children is saddening, sickening, and quite frankly, something that needs to be stopped. As I mentioned earlier, education is essentially a necessity, and there is, quite literally, no reason why there should be even a single person without access to education.
Malala should truly serve as an inspiration – she give an innumerable number of young girls hope for an education and a future, and she showed the world why restricting education is wrong on so many levels. And yet, here she is, paying the apparent price of knowledge. I know when I was 11, I wasn’t considering how lucky I was to be able to go to school, to learn, and to appreciate all the knowledge that’s just waiting to be grasped. So next time you want to hate on your teacher for that essay or that quiz, just keep in mind that it could get worse, and try to keep the value of education in mind.
