Malala's Big Day

 

Forth Road Bridge

    Malala Yousafzai, the girl who was shot by the Taliban for campaigning for girls rights to education has a big day ahead of her today (12th July). It's not only her sixteenth birthday, but she's also making a speech and delivering a petition to the United Nations in New York, advocating for a school place for every boy and girl globally.

    She and other children from all over the world are attending an education conference there, organised by Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and now UN Special Envoy for Global Education.

    We know that the schooling of girls in many countries is not allowed and a boy's education will  take priority. But although boys have the right  to be schooled, it is often not possible to do so, or is ignored. So I'm happy to see that education for boys is being acknowledged at this meeting too.

    Being educated isn't just about learning to read, write and do Arithmetic; education teaches us to tolerate and realise that we are all each others equal. Change is needed in the male attitude towards the female in third world countries, and by educating the children, the founds are being put down to a bridge which hopefully will close the gap between the two.