UNESCO and Pakistan to Launch “Malala Fund for Girls”
UNESCO and Pakistan have announced that they are joining forces to raise funds for girls’ education. Members from both groups met at the UN headquarters in Paris to sign the agreement to aid girls in Pakistan and other countries. The fund is to coincide with the UN Millennium Development Goals.
The fund is named for Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year old Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban for speaking out for girls’ education. As Malala’s voice for equal education was brutally targeted in her home nation, the issue of girl’s education started to gain more light. According to UNESCO director-general, Irina Bokova, 32 million girls around the world are not enrolled in primary schools and even fewer are enrolled in secondary schools. The shooting motivated people around the world to advocate for girls’ basic right to an education.
The Pakistan government has already donated $10 million to the fund. It will play an important role in ensuring girls education by 2015. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said, “Since our government has come to office, we’ve done all possible for the women of Pakistan, and we stand committed to the women of the world and Pakistan for gender equality, for schools, for colleges, for equal opportunity, for jobs.”
President Zardari recently visited Malala who is recovering at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England.
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Written by Sera Yoo
