Hearing Malala’s call

Reflecting on the poor state of education in Pakistan

“Education is the only solution. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world,” are the words that Malala Yousafzai delivered to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Friday. On her 16th birthday, the brave girl who late last year suffered almost fatal wounds delivered a more promising message than any that elected or unelected rulers have been able to come up with. Education should be taken up as the weapon of change in the face of extremism. Ten months after she was shot in the head with two of her school friends on October 9, 2012, Malala said, “They thought the bullet would silence us. But they failed. Out of that silence came thousands of voices.”

Malala’s story is the story of the resilience of a schoolgirl against terrorists who bomb girls’ schools. But there is a different question to ask: are the Taliban the only enemy of education in the country? A much more nuanced analysis would reveal that the pullout from education is in fact driven by the state itself and politicians are not committed to taking the issue seriously. Where the Taliban are one of the enemies of education that Malala points towards, there is also the inaction of the Pakistani state which has meant that 615 schools set up in Balochistan under a presidential ordinance in 2002 have been closed and services of 684 teachers terminated. This means that over 4,600 students being educated in those schools now have no place of learning to go to. The state of the schools is worth thinking about: the 684 feeder teachers hired under the programme were getting the meagre salary of Rs 1,500 per month. The schools themselves had brought down the dropout rate, but the process of regularising the teachers did not take place despite summaries sent to regularise the schools and teachers.

Hearing Malala’s call means that the State needs to tackle the question of education on war footing. What continues to be seen is that all political parties talk about public education spending throughout their election campaigns, but post elections forget about their tall promises. Malala’s words, coming from a girl who was almost killed by the Taliban, were, “I am not against anyone. Neither am I here to speak in terms of personal revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorist group. I am here to speak up for the right of education of every child.” She continued to state, “I want education for the sons and the daughters of all the extremists, especially the Taliban.” It must be remembered that Malala’s message is not the message of one teenage girl. It is the message of all the young people struggling to see a country in which they do not have to fear a bomb at every step. The question is: are our decision makers listening?