WUNRN
Education Gives Girls Dignity +
Speech, by Mariam
Khalique, teacher of Pakistani school girl Malala Yousafzai, at an event
in
“Bismillah! In the name of ALLAH, the most
merciful, the most beneficent. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls – I feel
honoured to be here today to be able to share my experiences with you.
Before sharing with you my story and
experiences, I want to introduce myself. My name is Mariam Khalique and I have
been teaching at the
It’s shocking when we stand here and talk
about the importance of girls education here today because this is a basic
right, which so many still do not have.
Ideally, we are not supposed to ask for this right from somewhere else. Education is a basic human right and we are
meant to have it already! It is like one breathes, eats and drinks. I
fully agree with the UNESCO research, which shows that education
transforms lives. It transforms men and women’s lives alike… I
have seen it with my own eyes.
The fact that education transforms lives
and this transformation is seen as unacceptable for many in
In the
last few years, the girls of Swat were virtually banned from going to
school. Banishing girls education and women’s freedom is the core agenda
of Talibanization. The militants have motivated and forced hundreds of
parents and girls to quit school. In fact, they destroyed more then 400
schools in Swat, majority of them were girls schools. And their activities were
somehow successful as they found culturally and socially a very conducive and
favourable environment. They were doing all this in a society where many
parents associate modern education with obscenity, vulgarity westernisation. These
were the hard days when our students used to see lots of violence on the
streets and they were suffering from the worst trauma.
Every morning, along with other teachers in
my school we had to encourage our girls to continue their studies. I remember
when it was announced on the radio that no girl should go to school, we told
our students to come to school without school uniforms and bags and hide their
books under their shawls and pretend that they are not students.
Many schools were closed, but we kept our
school open till the deadline which was January 2009 because we were determined
to continue the teaching and learning process till the last student and teacher
survived. All of these horrible experiences made us realise how important
education was. We saw the freedom that
education gave. Education made us stronger as girls and women,
which is why the Taliban want to ban it.
But dear colleagues, boys and girls, this
was not a single hurdle, there were many other obstacles in girls’
education. For example, child marriages were and in fact STILL are a big
problem in Swat. Girls at the age of 10 years or 12 get married. That’s just a year or two older than you.
Like one day, when I was sitting in my
office, two beautiful and bright students, aged 12/13, came to my office and
asked for a school-leaving certificate because the next month they were going
to be married in the very same family. This was not the first time one of
my students, who was in year five also got married. Me and Mr Ziauddin
Yousafzai (Malala’s Father) have tried to CHANGE this – but we have only
managed to reach a few hundred parents so far. Because forced child marriages
are a common practice in our society.
The best protection against marriage is education.
I have seen some parents who know what an education can bring and they
chose to delay marriages for their children. I have seen girls, as you
have seen Malala, demand an education instead of getting married and
having children, because they have been empowered by the freedom that comes
with being able to read and write.
Parents also don’t let their daughters come
to school for other cultural reasons. Men are the main earners in our society
and women are supposed to stay at home. But we MUST change this. We MUST
empower girls and women to stand up for
their equality and we can only do this through education.
Child marriages also lead to health
problems and cause teenage pregnancies which have proved to be very harmful for
the health of a mother and her child. Only when a mother is educated can a
mother seek the right help for her child, make sure they get the right nutrients and
look after herself.
How can we expect a 13-year-old girl to be
assigned the responsibility to give birth to children and bring them
up? It looks very unjust and almost criminal. This is a child giving birth
to a child. Again I tell you, an education can change this. I have seen
it happen in
For example, some guests arrived at my
office and asked to meet a student of mine who is in 10th
grade. When I took them to her. She was amazed and told me that she didn’t know
them. I told the guests to leave. The girl signaled to me requesting not to
give away her address in case they send a request for marriage. Every hour counts for these children –
we must educate girls to help bring about changes quickly in our society. As
you can see, education gives girls dignity. You can’t change your life if
you don’t know how. If girls and women are empowered they can take control of
their own lives and their bodies. That is why education is priceless and
important for girls and women not only in
SO, HERE I MUST CALL UPON all the societies
and governments to educate women so
that they are empowered and this will help to eradicate women’s rights
violations under the pretext of any tradition or custom. If there are no laws,
laws should be made. If they exist so, their implementation should be ensured
through authorising each and every educational institution to intervene if they
notice any such violation. Learning gives us the means to lead meaningful
lives and a proper education will also awaken the desire to benefit others.
Now, the situation in Swat, is changing
slowly. After experiencing the ban on education, the girls of Swat are more
aware of their rights and WANT to get education. To be short the 20th
century was the century of massive movements such as that against apartheid and
I can see from the way the girls have changed in my class over the years that
this century will be the century to fight against women’s discrimination.
I’m here talking from the perspective of
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls I want
to conclude my speech by saying that education is the only solution to a better
life for us all. We must never forget that an educated mother will result
in a healthy, educated and prosperous family.”