individuals about the conditions in Pakistan. The effect of Malala’s sustained advocacy has been to refocus the global spotlight on gender disparity in schooling and educational disadvantage across the world. The global struggle for girls to safely access education must overcome some terrifying barriers: whether compromised safety owing to the risk of sexual assault on the journey to school, cultural or religious barriers, or the practice of ‘breast ironing’, whose object is to desexualise young females from the lecherous eyes of school staff and locals. Throughout history, women have only had a limited role in education with restricted opportunities. Education - that nowadays has been recognised by a number of international conventions as a human right and a development imperative - remains beyond reach for millions of young women across the world. As pointed out by UNESCO in 2012, the preference for males over females in education has been a marked feature since ancient times; a practice that has shaped today’s gender disparities in virtually all countries to varying degrees. In Pakistan itself, there are 7.6 million children out of school at the primary level, and 58 per cent are female. The Taliban are not the only ones keeping kids out of school. Some fairly secularly minded people think of Pakistan’s children as someone else’s children – not deserving the education that their money buys for their own kids. As such, Pakistan is a booming marketplace for private education. Ask anyone on the street, and they’ll tell you it’s the biggest business in Pakistan. You can see people on donkey carts driving their children to private schools that offer English-medium education in air-conditioned rooms for 400 rupees a month. Every morning, in every small town and city, you can see kids – three on a bicycle, five on a motorbike, 10 squeezed into a rickshaw – all heading for a school somewhere. Girls top almost all university exam tables in Pakistan. Whatever sad destiny the country may be hurtling towards, there is one thing standing between Pakistan and the Taliban’s dream of heaven on earth: the number of women who have been to school, and the number of women who
couldn’t go to school but are determined to send their daughters to school, no matter the economic imperative. An educated female population is more threatening to the Taliban than armies equipped with the most advanced arsenal in military history. Malala’s strength has given these deeply-entrenched disparities a new urgency. Pakistan has gone through moments of shock in the past - floods, assassinations, violent attacks - yet the attempted killing of a 14-year old girl whose crime was to seek fair access to education has, many believe, marked a turning point. The intensification of the spotlight has not reflected well on Pakistan, even if the sitting government is making a sincere effort to open and improve national education. The salient facts are nonetheless an indictment: Pakistan, a country ranked as the 27th largest economy in terms of purchasing power by the International Monetary Fund, spends a mere 2.1 percent of the country’s GDP on education, seven times less than its investment in military forces. Comparatively, this puts the country in the bottom eight worldwide for its commitment to educating a population whose majority are under the age of 22 and never complete basic, primary school education. Furthermore, 75 percent of young girls never attend primary school, contributing to a global scale of 32 million young girls without this opportunity, according to Equal Times’ Aoun Sahi.
The Taliban are not the only “ ones keeping kids out of school.
Some fairly secularly minded people think of Pakistan’s children as someone else’s children
”
The public reaction to the attack on Malala is well founded. Protests against the attack have been held in several major Pakistani cities. Four thousand students were involved and participated in organised walks and prayers, seeking both to support Malala in her emphasis on girls’ education and also to secure a better future for the young girls of Pakistan. Malala is asking for the right to an education, but education is not only about knowledge, it is also about models of society, methodologies of action, and the search for the true meaning of human
existence. The Constitution of Pakistan promises free and compulsory education to all children in Pakistan. Malala Yousafzai asked for no more than this, for all of Pakistan’s children, girls and boys. Education must now be acknowledged as the first priority of the state and those political parties engaged in election campaigning must fulfill their resonating promises to prioritise access to education in the next term of office.
can see people on donkey “ You carts driving their children
to private schools that offer English-medium education in airconditioned rooms for 400 rupees a month
”
But while politicians and pundits in Pakistan and around the world debate the meaning and consequences of Malala’s stand for education, the girl at the centre of a story that has opened up a new debate on political Islam and social progress looks almost casually self-assured. Her wave to the camera is relaxed, her keen eyes coolly assess the situation. She has the look of a leader in the making. There’s steel in her, it appears. Far from picking on a teenager who blundered into their sights, the Taliban were rattled by a brave and strong young woman who looks like she has plenty of fight in her yet. New legislation is needed now in all provinces and federal areas in Pakistan for the right to education, which comprehensively addresses issues of access, quality, and equity for all children of Pakistan. The legislation must explicitly define norms for quality education services, roles, responsibilities, and how the implementation process will work. The process must be transparent and inclusive and involve a nationwide debate and consultation. Attitudes in Pakistan towards education for girls are changing. Now the law must catch up with them and nudge them even further.
Jack Leahy is a Senior Sophister Student of English Literature and History and the current Education Officer for the Trinity College Student Union
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