ISLAMABAD: Mariam Khalique, a teacher of Malala Yousufzai, has said that more needs to be done to ensure all girls get a chance to go to school.

In her speech at the launch of a UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report data revealing the importance of education at a school in New York on Thursday, Ms Khalique spoke about the power of education in transforming lives.

“It’s shocking when we stand here and talk about the importance of girls’ education…because this is a basic right, which so many still do not have.

“Education transforms lives and this transformation is seen as unacceptable for many in Pakistan and the rest of the world who want to keep girls dependant, enslaved and socially paralysed in one name or other.

“The people who want to keep the status quo always oppose girls’ education because it moves societies and changes the world, and they are afraid of change.”

Ms Khalique, who taught Malala at Khushal School and College in Swat, spoke of how students who were desperate to go to school had to hide their books and wear normal dress instead of uniform as the Taliban started to close down schools. Without school many of her students were at the risk of being married at a young age – some as young as 12 and 13 – she said.