Factual Coursework-Joely Eyre

Factual coursework - Joely Eyre
It is debatable which of the articles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most important. Perhaps it would be Freedom of expression, Freedom of thought, Freedom of conscience or Freedom of religion. These are all essential for the well-being and development of a child but what about article 28, the Right to education? Without an education, can a child really express their thoughts, understand their conscience or practise a religion? Only a balanced education can teach these children the values they need to carry out these rights. The right to education is not a privilege. It is not an advantage. It is a right that all children are entitled to despite their language, birthplace or religion.
A disastrous situation arose because of the drop in the number of female doctors and many women developed severe illnesses. Furthermore, the majority of births took place in the home without any professional assistance; the effects were detrimental to both the mother and the babies. Pregnancy related deaths were responsible for the deaths of 1 in 23 mothers and due to malnutrition, children died so young that there was only a one in four chance of making it to their first birthday. How can it have been justified that even the first breaths that an Afghan baby girl took reflected the discrimination and injustice of the society she was going to live in? The Taliban set up traps for women that made their only remaining purpose a living
However, passion, faith and bravery strengthened one girl to challenge the same discrimination in Pakistan. Malala Yousafzai took the chance that very few 11 year olds would have taken under such a regime. She expressed the voices of thousands of silenced girls and women in Pakistan as a blogger for the BBC. This expression, however, had disastrous consequences, resulting in her attempted murder. The bullets that punctured her brain, however, resulted in international support for Malala as she became a role model to millions of girls around the globe. She became the ultimate inspiration for the young girls of Pakistan. In our democratic, westernised society, we regularly take our education for granted, and it takes a true hero, like Malala, to remind us that an education is so much more than just a qualification. For some people having an education is a matter of life and death and it takes a five – hour operation to remove a bullet, just to be noticed. Malala is a living example of justice and equality but she should not have had to endure such pain in the first place. She should have been given the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge that has been locked away for so many years. She was only able to do this by taking her GCSE’s and getting straight A’s and A*’s. It has only been through her immense courage that millions of girls are finally being