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.
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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