Blog 9:Girls Who Risk Their Lives for Education

Girls Who Risk Their Lives for Education

London- Almost unnoticed, one of the great civil rights struggles of our times is being fought out in our midst. In Afghanistan and in Africa, supporters of universal girls’ education are being threatened, assaulted, bombed and murdered. Multiple acts of violence have occurred in the past two weeks including a 41-year-old teacher that was gunned down 200 meters from her all-girls school near the Pakistan-Afghan border. Also included was an all-girls school being blown up and a principal shot to death.  Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old was shot in October simply because she wanted girls to go to school and is now a global symbol for the right of girls to education. Schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan have been threatened and bombed for many years in order to stop the march for girls education. However, more and more are saying that neither bombs nor bullets nor arson will now stop them from sending girls to school. The girls themselves are the ones leading this civil rights movement and teenage girls are joining together, village by village, to create “child-marriage-free zones.” Add the child-marriage-free zones, the Malala demonstrations, the petitions against child labor, the growing movement exposing child trafficking, and there are a million young Malalas. These are all trying to affirm their human dignity and battling for their rights. Many of the rights that these girls are fighting for are the ones that have been taken for granted for at least a century in most countries. The movement challenges world leaders to recognize that, despite the Millennium Development Goal promise to ensure universal education for girls by the end of 2015, progress has stalled. Next week the leaders of the countries will meet with the UN secretary general and the president of the World Bank to discuss the legislation, incentives, reforms, and money needed to speed up the enrollment of girls in schools.

 

            Reading this article got me very fired up and wanting to help in some way. First because I am an elementary education major and second because I am a female. I don’t understand why some countries in the year 2013 still are discouraging girls to be in school. I also can’t believe the extremes that people go to, to express their hate or disagreement. I remember reading about the woman mentioned in this article, Malala Yousafzai who was shot because she believed in education for girls.  The fact that this movement is being led by the girls that are being affected is inspiring because they are standing up for what they believe in. They do this, knowing that their life could be taken from them but they want to advocate for themselves and in turn hopefully change attitudes in these countries regarding education. It amazes me how people in this area believe that a woman’s time is spent better for looking for a future husband rather than being in school. They also believe in girls being married against their will. I don’t understand why people and those in authority believe that education should be cut off from women. I wish there was some way for them to see the benefits of education, no matter what gender you are. What beliefs do they have that allows boys to get an education but not girls? I also wonder what the girls are doing to protest this issue and if they are seeing any success thus far.  If anything positive came out of me reading this article, it is me being thankful to be living in the United States. Our education system is not perfect by any means but I’m glad that I’m fortunate enough to have completed high school and on my way to obtain a bachelor’s degree. I am also glad that I can go to school in a safe environment and one where girls are encouraged to go to school and I don’t have to worry about being shot because I want to get an education. I have no idea what these girls are going through and never will but I admire and respect them for what they are doing. The views on education in developing countries and in other places around the world, is still an issue in today’s time and I strongly believe that it needs to be changed. I wish there was some way for me to help or our country as a whole to help, but then again sometimes our country puts its own needs before anyone else’s and tends not to want to help other countries unless the US will gain from it.  I hope the meeting next week that they are having goes well and that hopefully the issue of girls education will be looked into and on its way to being resolved.

Leslie Belk

4/12/13

2:57 pm