EI is appealing to member organisations to contribute to the Fund, which will be used to provide grants for education purposes to teachers and their families, and to students, who have been affected directly by the current spate of violence against schools, teachers and students in Pakistan.
Shahnaz Nazli, a 41 year-old teacher was shot on Tuesday 26 March as she walked, with her son, to school near the town of Jamrud in Peshawar, Pakistan. Gunmen opened fire, when Ms Nazli was just 200 metres from the school, and fled after hitting their target.
The Head Teacher took her to the local hospital, but Shahnaz died of her gunshot wounds three hours later. Since the murder of Shahnaz, two of the three classrooms in an all girls school in Zalaumn Kalan in the Bannu province were blown up and destroyed by 4.5 kilogrammes of explosives detonated from a plastic canister, hidden by terrorists, inside the school.
On Saturday last, with the bombing of a school prize giving ceremony at Baldia Ittehad Town’s Rehmania Muhalla district chapter of the Nation Secondary School, in which the school principal was killed and some students injured seriously, the outburst of violence moved from the tribal areas right to the heart of Karachi, one of Pakistan's principal cities, with a population of 20 million.
EI and its Pakistani affiliates condemned these murders and bombings in the strongest terms, and offered their condolences to the family and colleagues of Ms Nazli, and to the families of those who were killed in the subsequent bombings. EI and its affiliates in Pakistan are also organising a Memorial ceremony in Pakistan on the 28th April to commemorate all of those teachers who have been killed, and students who have been injured, in the cause of girls’ education. EI is planning to hold a major demonstration in Pakistan in late May or June, after the national elections.
It is still possible for individuals to sign the petition in relation to the murder of Shahnaz Nazli, launched by Gordon Brown, the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, for presentation to the Pakistan authorities: Sign here: http://educationenvoy.org/
EI has formed a coalition with its Pakistani affiliates, with the Pakistani Workers’ Federation, with the International Trade Union Confederation and with the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, to put pressure on the Pakistani authorities to guarantee the safety of teachers and their pupils on the way to and from school, and while they are in school.
EI, and the other members of the coalition, will not rest until the Pakistan government and authorities recognise that it is their responsibility to secure the safety of teachers and of students.
There cannot be any kind of development or progress in Pakistan, or, indeed, elsewhere, if people, who dedicate their professional lives to nurturing the minds of children, are not able to undertake their work in safety, and children are prevented from attending school.
Shahnaz Nazli’s death, the subsequent deaths of teachers and injuries to students in schools in Pakistan over the past few days, and the earlier attempt on the life of Malala Yousafzai, underline the fact that we have reached a critical point in the struggle between those who would deny children their human right to be educated, and those who would promote that right, even at the cost of their lives.
The establishment of this Scholarship Fund is an attempt to recognise, in a tangible way, the sacrifice which teachers and students are making in Pakistan in the cause of education for all and, especially, of education for girls.
Please contribute to the fund at:
Shahnaz Nazli Scholarship Fund,
Education International Solidarity Account,
Account number: 3101 0061 7075
IBAN code: BE05 3101 0061 7075
Swift code: BBRUBEBB
Name of the Bank: ING BANK
Address: 24, Avenue Marnix, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
EI is grateful for your support and solidarity!
Yours sincerely,
Fred van Leeuwen
General Secretary
