Pakistan’s newest animated series will star the Burka Avenger, a compassionate teacher who combats gangsters trying to close down the girls’ school in which she works. The show portrays this avenger as a burka-wearing ninja whose only weapons are her books and pens and whose sidekicks are three students from the local village.
Pakistan’s first animated series, Burka Avenger, presents a struggle relevant to Pakistan’s current battles with education, as the nation’s northwest area is a front for the Taliban’s attacks on education for girls. The Taliban is believed to have bombed countless schools, attacked Pakistani educational activists, and shot 15-year old Malala Yousafzai for campaigning for girls’ educational rights last October.
A group of orphans who were shown an early screening of the series gave encouraging reviews; Ten year-old Samia Naeem said she liked the crusading heroine “because she saved kids’ lives. She motivated them for education and school.”
The idea for this Urdu language series was conceived by one of Pakistan’s biggest pop stars, Aaron Haroon, who sees it as a way to emphasize the importance of girls’ education. Haroon’s goal was to combine Pakistani culture with an educational message; he hopes Pakistani girls will be empowered by the avenger’s use of the burka. It will premiere early August on GeoTV.
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Written by Aanchal Narang