Women and Education- Few thoughts
Recently I read the book ‘I AM MALALA’ by Malala Yousafzai and
Christina Lamb.
The book is an autobiography of Malala
Yousafzai who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 2014 for her strong
stance for advocating girl child/ women’s education. This young activist was
born on 12 July 1997 in the Swat Valley of Pakistan - Afganistan border. She was
encouraged by her father to study in his own school - Kushal Public School.
During her years of schooling, the political topography of the Swat Valley
changes with people getting highly influenced and deliberately led through a well
orchestered religious propaganda by the Pakistani Taliban to follow the Islamic
Law. These religious fundamentalists gradually took over the administration
from the Government agencies and become a law unto themselves. They started Kangaroo
courts; insisted that everyone follow the Muslim Law which according to their
dictum forbids education to the Girls and Women. Life became very difficult
for the people under the rule of Taliban as schools run for girls were under
threat.
At such trying times, Malala starts a blog for
BBC Urdu channel while she was still in her 7th standard. The blog runs from 3rd January 2009 to 12th March 2009. For her safety, she had
been asked by the BBC to use a pseudonym ‘Gul Makai’. Over a period of time, a
documentary gets done revealing her efforts for Right to Education of girls.
This is followed by a number of awards and recognition which brings her
identity to public domain. Then on, her family faces the threats from the
Pakistani Taliban which ultimately leads to the heinous act of an assassination
attempt on her life on 9 October 20012 while she was returning from her school
after writing her examination. Two other girls sitting beside her, in the
school bus, also got bullet wounds.
The critically injured Malala gets all the
required medical help and is later shifted to United Kingdom. It takes her
nearly three months to recover and she continues to receive treatment and
rehabilitation. The story of Malala catches the attention of the
World and over 2 million people sign the petition ‘’Right to Education’’
which culminates in the first Right to Education Bill in Pakistan. Even after
going through such a terrible ordeal, Malala continues her fight for Right to
Education of the Girls and women at various forums. On her sixteenth birthday,
in her first public address post the assassination attempt, Malala addresses
the United Nations giving a call for worldwide access to education. In
2014, Malala becomes the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize
sharing the prize with another Child Rights Activist, Kailash Satyarthi of
India. The Malala Fund has been created by her to provide funds for education
of girls.
After reading this autobiography, my thoughts
were on difficulties and discrimination faced by the Girls in accessing
education in most of the societies. Though the book focussed on the Muslim
Fundamentalists, one can observe the parallel efforts in every religion to
withhold access to knowledge for Girls and women. Education is the key to
understand oneself and others around us and to unleash the power of human
curiosity. It is the key to open the vistas unseen, unheard and an opportunity
to open the mind to various possibilities. Yet this access has been
systematically denied to women throughout the history of human society.
At least now, concerted efforts should be made
by the civic societies to provide free access to education for all girls and
women so that they can participate equally inn building a responsible
society. Further, it should be impressed upon the girls as well as women
to understand the need for education, the opportunities that come their way due
to getting education. The educated women need to join hands to help other women
to become literate first and then pursue education further.
My second line of thinking focussed on how the
systematic propaganda by religious fundamentalists and fanatics can sway the
whole population, to start following an ideology without even giving rational
consideration. The whole of Swat valley comes under the influence of Taliban in
a span of two to three years with almost no resistance from those residing in
the valley! Two things seem to have led to this situation. The gross neglect of
development of the region by the consecutive elected governments leading to
poor access to education among the whole population combined with poverty and
unemployment leading to poor living standards. These factors seem to invariably
lead people to blindly follow the religious dictum without dissent. In
every country, we find such pockets of gross underdevelopment which leads to
frustration among the youth and can lead them towards religious dogmatism. Thus
there is a need to focus on such underdeveloped areas in our backyards so as to
initiate developmental and educational avenues for the people of such areas.
Otherwise such rising of religious fundamentalism may also hit every country
very badly.
I do appreciate the book for leading me to
think on the above mentioned areas.
- Dr. Suman K Murthy
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