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When girls speak out for education in Pakistan



 
Fourteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai was well-known at eleven, when, in 2009, she campaigned for the right for girls in her region of Pakistan to go to school. She publicly declared that she wanted to be a doctor. Since 2007, the Taliban endeavoured to close schools, burn them down, and intimidate female teachers and girls in her region. Malala was aware of the dangers in speaking for her rights, but she remained brave and defiant.

Malala lives in Mingora in the Swat District in Pakistan’s Khyber-Paktunkhwa (KP) Province, formerly the North West Frontier Province, close to the Afghanistan border. It is a rugged and mountainous region, at an altitude of 984 metres (3,228 feet). It is also spectacularly beautiful – “the Switzerland” of Pakistan. Tourists don’t go there anymore due to the presence of the Taliban.

Malala was shot in the head yesterday (Tuesday, October 9, 2012) by the Taliban in an attack condemned by Pakistan and the rest of the world. It was daylight and on a school bus, injuring at least two other girls. The gun man asked for Malala in person. Hence it was a deliberately targeted attack on the young, intelligent, beautiful 14-year-old. The bullet entered her head and moved to her shoulder. Currently unconscious in intensive care in a hospital in Peshawar, she is in a critical condition. After a three-hour operation to remove the bullet, doctors are monitoring her situation to determine whether she needs further treatment in a larger hospital in the country's capital or abroad. It is too early to determine the extent of the damage, and whether there will be brain damage if she survives.

The provincial government of her hometown region has announced a reward for information leading to the capture of Malala’s attacker. Leaders, officials, and people around the world have deplored the attack and prayer for her recovery.

The literacy rate in Pakistan is low at 58% (69% for males and 46% for females) and even lower in the Swat District at 50% (68% for males and 33% for females), according to the Pakistan Social & Living Standard Measurement Survey 2010-2011. With Pakistan’s primarily agriculture-based economy, 75% of its population live in rural villages. Half of the population is under the age of 15-years and unemployment is high. The situation in the Swat District is further exacerbated by the mountainous terrain, harsh weather, and natural disasters. Education is a key factor in mitigating a compounding situation by contributing to social development and economic well-being for future generations.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 24 districts with an estimated population of 21 million. KP is the least developed Province in Pakistan, with almost 720,000 primary age children not attending school, according to the official EMIS data of 2009-2010. Even without the intimidation of the Taliban, the school drop-out rate in the KP Province is 49% (42% for males and 57% for females) up to Grade 5, meaning that half the students who start school never finish basic education. And according to the Trends in Education Indicators: A Perspective Analysis of Key Education Indicators between 2005/6 and 2009/10, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province report by Abdus Salam (July 2011), the degree of access to the first year of schooling has declined by 4.65% over the past four years.

For decades, donors such as the European Union, the World Bank, USAID, DFID (the United Kingdom aid agency), the Netherlands, Norway, Australia, Canada, and Germany have assisted the KP provincial government, both financially and with technical assistance to improve its education system. This aid will continue for the next three to five years, at least, with the aim of delivering high quality education services to the region – which is what Malala Yousafzai would want, at the very least.



Martina Nicolls has worked in the education system in Pakistan, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and neighbouring countries.


Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/world/bullet-removed-but-pakistani-girl-still-critical-20121011-27e85.html#ixzz28wMVNEOo






MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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