I read the remarkable story of Malala Yousafzai last year and could not put it down. It moved me to tears. You might recall that she was the girl shot at close range in the head in a targeted attack by the Taliban in Pakistan in October 2012, aged 15, all because she refused to NOT go to school. She had been blogging under a pseudonym (at their insistence) for BBC Urdu for several years and tirelessly campaigning for the right for girls to go to school in her home valley of Swat. Her illiterate mother was due to start to learn to read and write on that very day.
Malala is bright, ambitious, determined. She is brave, strong-willed and stubborn. She loves to read. Malala studies hard. She is also fiercely competitive, with classmates, siblings, even her father. She upholds her Islamic beliefs with dignity and steadfastness – she was initially embarrassed when recovering in England by films such as Bend it like Beckham which kind nurses assumed would be appropriate for her to watch.
Malala meets world leaders and harangues them to lobby for equality in education. She goes to school. Malala speaks out against injustice and inequality. She has facts and figures to back up her arguments, and of course she has experience and the scars to support her stance. And she goes to school in Birmingham.
There is so much we all could learn from Malala Yousafzai. She is Malala, yes, but she is also a passionate, intense and proud. She is a 17 year old girl who laughs a lot, who adores cricket, both playing and watching, and who misses her home.
This is what Malala told a reporter about her would-be assassin: “He was young, in his 20s … he was quite young, we may call him a boy. And it’s hard to have a gun and kill people. Maybe that’s why his hand was shaking [her friends in the bus have since told her this, as Malala herself has no recollection of being shot]. Maybe he didn’t know if he could do it. But people are brainwashed. That’s why they do things like suicide attacks and killing people. I can’t imagine it – that boy who shot me, I can’t imagine hurting him even with a needle. I believe in peace. I believe in mercy.” Now if that isn’t a message for today, this week of all weeks after the attacks in Tunisia, France and Kuwait, what is?
Less well-known but in my eyes equally exceptional is Malala’s father, Ziauddin. He literally built the school for Malala and the other girls in the town. He ran it, was the Headteacher and teacher and secretary and bursar all in one to start with. He risked everything to do so – all his money and livelihood, and his life. He taught his and others’ children, boys and girls, to learn, to fly, to stand up and do something with their lives. A truly remarkable family.
Malala is the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. She says she didn’t aim to win a prize, she is aiming for peace. Her book, I Am Malala, is a best-seller and has been adapted for younger readers. I have introduced her story to schools through assemblies but there is much more global learning we can promote using Malala, her story, her campaigning and her character as a stimulus; social injustice is caused partly by the lack of educational opportunities, for example. Global citizenship means campaigning for human rights and children’s rights – did you know that all but the USA and Somalia have signed up for the Convention of the Rights of the Child, and that Article 28 is ‘you have the right to education’? It means learning about inequality and injustice, and how we cannot tolerate it. Global learning is concerned with learning to respect others’ cultures and religions. It’s purpose is to challenge values and perceptions. It promotes peace and conflict resolution. All of these key principles apply to Malala and her life.
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot By The Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb, is published by Wiedenfeld & Nicolson at £18.99.
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