THOUGHT FOR THE
WEEK
W/ C 3 RD F E B 2 0 1 4
WHO IS THIS?
• The human right we are looking at this week is the
right to an education.
WHO IS MALALA?
• She is known for her education and women's rights
activism in the Swat Valley, where the Taliban had
at times banned girls from attending school.
• In early 2009, at the age of 11/12, Malala wrote a
blog under a pseudonym (Gul Makai) for the BBC
detailing her life under Taliban rule, their attempts to
take control of the valley, and her views on
promoting education for girls
• Why did she have to write under a pseudonym?
EARLY LIFE
• Malala was educated in large part by her father,
Ziauddin Yousafzai, who is a poet, school owner and an
educational activist.
• Her father encouraged Malala to become a politician.
He referred to his daughter as something entirely special,
permitting her to stay up at night and talk about politics
after her two brothers had been sent to bed.
• Malala started speaking about education rights as early
as September 2008. Her father took her to Peshawar to
speak at the local press club. "How dare the Taliban take
away my basic right to education?" Malala told her
audience in a speech that was covered by newspapers
and television channels, throughout the region
MALALA’S FIGHT FOR EDUCATION
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/oct/
14/malala-yousafzai-speech-education-video
TALIBAN ATTACK
• On 9 October 2012, Malala was shot on her school
bus in north western Swat by Taliban gunmen for
the "crime" of promoting girls' education
• In the days immediately following the attack, she
remained unconscious and in critical condition, but
later her condition improved enough for her to be
sent to a hospital in England for intensive
rehabilitation
MALALA SURVIVES ASSASSINATION
ATTEMPT
• Malala Yousafzai speaks publicly for the first time
since she was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen
in October 2012
http://www.guar
dian.co.uk/world
/video/2013/feb/
04/malalayousafzaiinterview-talibanvideo
DISCUSS
• Why was education so important to Malala?
• Would you have done the same thing in her
situation?
• What can we learn from her?
MALALA YOUSAFZAI