Pakistani education advocate and UN Messenger of Peace, Malala Yousafzai, has told a gathering in Abuja, Nigeria, that the world must do more to ensure that more than 120 million girls who are out of school can do get an education<\/p>\n
The Nobel laureate was speaking exactly 10 years after her landmark \u2018Malala Day\u2019 address to youth at UN Headquarters in New York, where she called for global action against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism, according to a press release issued at UN Headquarters in New York.<\/p>\n
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed introduced Malala, saying she has transcended borders, cultures and generations, while her message and passion have touched people everywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cMalala keeps daring us to imagine: to imagine a world with less intolerance, more understanding and respect. A world of less hate and more humanity. A world of less bigotry and more equality. A world of less ignorance, and more education and knowledge,\u201d Ms. Mohammed said.<\/p>\n
She added that both the UN and Malala know that quality education for both girls and boys \u201cis not a dream, but it\u2019s a fundamental human right.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the years since her UN speech, Malala has completed high school and university, travelled to more than 30 countries, and established an eponymous fund working to reduce barriers to girls\u2019 education.<\/p>\n
\u201cI gave a lot of speeches and talked to many leaders,\u201d Malala said. \u201cIn everything that I did, I tried to draw the world\u2019s attention to girls like me \u2013 the nearly 120 million girls denied the right to education by poverty, patriarchy, climate and conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n
During that time, Malala also spent her birthday traveling to different countries to meet with local girls, including refugees in Jordan, Iraq, Kenya and Rwanda, and indigenous girls in Brazil.<\/p>\n
She has made three trips to Nigeria alone, meeting with activists and young women, and also with parents whose daughters were among the 276 girls abducted in the Chibok school kidnapping in 2014.<\/p>\n
Malala shared the stories of some of the young women she has met over the years who have gone on to earn university degrees and even start working.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should celebrate the girl who goes to university, takes a job, chooses when and if she marries. But we should not deceive ourselves into thinking that we have made enough progress,\u201d she warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to cheer for those who have made it, despite the challenges they faced. But my heart aches for those who we failed. Every young woman like me has friends we saw being left behind \u2013 those whose governments, communities and families held them back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Malala praised global initiatives to boost education and gender equality, which will help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of quality education for all by 2030. Yet she again stressed that \u201cthis handful of victories can\u2019t hide how little has changed for hundreds of millions of girls\u201d, including due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Malala also highlighted the situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban\u2019s return to power two years ago. Previously, one in three women there were enrolled in university, she said, but today it is the only country in the world where women and girls are banned from pursuing an education.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven as a teenager, I understood that progress could be slow,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I never expected to witness a complete reversal. An entire country of girls locked out of school, trapped in their homes, and losing hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her powerful speech at the UN in 2013, the 16-year-old Malala famously declared that \u201cone child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.\u201d Her youthful optimism has since been tempered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will tell you today what I did not know then. One child, even with the best resources and encouragement, one child can\u2019t change the world. Neither can one president or prime minister,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne teacher, one activist, one parent \u2013 no one can change the world on their own. What is true is that change can begin with just one person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Malala called for joining forces to build a world where all children have access to 12 years of quality education, while leaders must be held accountable for their commitments to gender equality and education.<\/p>\n
She also underlined the importance of communities. \u201cI believe that so many of the problems girls face would be solved if we could break the stranglehold of patriarchy, the misogyny, we disguise as a cultural tradition or religion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Malala revealed that when she was 16, she could not have imagined what the decade ahead would hold, although she was hopeful.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, I can see the future more clearly because I have met our future leaders. Girls understand the power of education and they\u2019re working to open the school gates wide enough for every child to enter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that if we match their determination, fund their work and follow their lead, we will see so much progress in the next 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of her visit, on Tuesday, the Deputy Secretary-General travelled to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, with Malala and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai who is a co-founder of the Malala Fund.<\/p>\n
The delegation visited three schools all of which focus on providing quality education to girls, many of whom have been impacted by violence.<\/p>\n
Ms. Mohammed is headed next to the Belgian capital Brussels, where she will join the Secretary-General in UN-European Union meetings, the UN said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistani education advocate and UN Messenger of Peace, Malala Yousafzai, has told a gathering in Abuja, Nigeria, that the world must do more to ensure that more than 120 million girls who are out of school can do get an education The Nobel laureate was speaking exactly 10 years after her landmark \u2018Malala Day\u2019 address […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-342786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n