ADAM GREEN: How
many people here are
familiar with the story
of Malala Yousafzai?
Excellent.
We have her parents, Tor
Pekai and Ziauddin Yousafzai,
and Ziauddin's
partner Jahan Zeb,
who together they have founded
the Global Peace Centre
Canada with the effort of
bringing peace to the world
through education.
So we're going to have a
five-minute talk from them
on what the Global Peace
Centre is all about, and then
a moderated discussion.
If you guys have
questions, then we've
got two mics on either side.
There were also-- I think
we had an email in Dory
so if you want to do that.
But we have a small enough group
that just put up your hand,
or ideally, come to the mics.
So without any further ado,
guys, why don't you come on up
and give us your background?
[APPLAUSE]
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: Thank you.
JAHAN ZEB: Thanks, [INAUDIBLE].
ADAM GREEN: So yeah, I think
just five-minute background
on what the Global
Peace Centre of Canada
is, what your mission
is-- and then we'll
sit down and have a discussion.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: OK.
Can you give me the mic?
ADAM GREEN: You should
have one right there.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI:
OK, it will work.
Good morning.
How are you?
AUDIENCE: Good.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: Yeah.
So we know about Google.
Everybody knows.
But I don't think that there
is any single day in my life
when I don't see Google logo
on my iPad-- not a single day.
So you're a very
well-known organization
and well-known people.
And I'm very honored and feel
humbled to be amongst you.
And if I want to
leave the stage,
I can tell you that, OK,
just Google Malala Yousafzai.
Leave me alone.
But that would not work.
This human story-- to share
the story on human base,
it's very important.
So my name Ziauddin Yousafzai.
Jahan, if you can sit-- so
later on I'll ask you to speak.
OK, thank you.
So my name is Ziauddin
Yousafzai, and I'm properly
and mostly known as
Malala Yousafzai's father.
And I tell people that
once she was my daughter,
but now I'm her father.
And too much known by a
daughter-- now when people
introduce me as her father--
so they are a bit apologetic
and tell me, do you like
to be introduced like this?
And I tell them
that, yes, of course.
I'm in a patriarchal society.
In many societies, fathers
are known by their sons.
I'm one of the few, hardly few,
who is known by his daughter,
and I'm proud of it.
So I think here we talk
about education and peace,
because everybody has
a long story-- I mean,
every one of you in this room.
And everyone's story
is worth listening.
And when we share
stories with each other,
we learn from each other.
Tor Pekai's here.
She is my beautiful wife.
Would you like to stand,
just that may see your face?
[APPLAUSE]
And now they will say
that Malala look like you,
not like me.
It's OK.
Thank you very much.
So I was born in a small
village in north of Pakistan.
So my story will tell
you how education
is important in the
communities which are developed
and in the communities
which are not developed.
And the point I'm
making is that education
is the only road, only tool,
to providence, to success,
to human development,
to maintain and to keep
our human civilization.
So living in a small village
in the north of Pakistan, Swat,
the village I was grew.
And it was a small village,
not with big population.
But in that village, I think
less than 50% boys went
to school, and
there was no concept
of girls' education-- no
concept of girls' education.
You are very lucky here.
I had five sisters and
we were two brothers.
Our parents-- like my father
and my mother, both of them--
were very, very much
interested in my brother's
and in my education.
But they never thought
about the education
of the five daughters--
brilliant daughters--
which they had in their home.
I also observed discrimination
in small things,
like when a chicken was cooked.
So the sumptuous part of the
chicken was given to the boys,
and like neck and poor
parts of the chicken
were given to the girls.
We used to take cream with milk
in the morning with the tea,
and the girls only took tea.
So such it kind of
discrimination--
it reflects the attitude and
the behavior of the society
towards their girls.
So I was in-- really, when you
don't know about human rights,
justice, equality, sometime
you enjoy that favoritism,
which is for you.
Like as a child,
I might not have
felt that why I'm getting cream
with milk, and my sister's not.
I might have felt , OK, good.
I'm special.
But later on, when
I got education
and I did my graduation,
I did my master,
I realized that that
education changed me.
Education changed my
inner being-- inner being.
And the things I was-- I
found in my childhood--
like I was bullied by
some of my cousins,
because of my stammering.
I stammered when I talk,
so they bullied me.
And I was also a little
bit discriminated
because of my dark color.
Fair color was more
popular in the community.
And I tried to wash my face
with milk, but it didn't work.
So after getting
education, I thought
that I should not retaliate or
respond, bullying for bullying,
or head for head,
or discrimination
for discrimination.
My positive revenge was to fight
against all those injustices,
inequalities, and
discriminations
which exist in any form
in the human community.
So my education-- I mean the
education changed my life.
And when I married
Tor Pekai, she
could not go to
school-- because there
was a school in her
small village, too.
Her father took her
to school, but she
was the only girl
in the classroom
and all the rest were boys.
And in the classroom,
she used to think
of our cousins, who used to play
in the fields, on the rooftops.
And she said, [INAUDIBLE].
I will not-- let's stop
it, because she was missing
her other cousins and peers.
So she left school
at very early age,
but nobody asked here
where are her books--
why is she not studying, why
she's not really in school.
So that was the end
of her education.
But after marrying her, I
realized that I married her
because she was very beautiful.
Later, I know that she's
very wise-- wiser than me--
very prudent, very intelligent.
And then I said,
I felt very sorry
that had she been educated--
she's still very good.
But I was thinking
that how many women
we have lost their
potentials, their energies,
their contribution
to the community,
because of not educating them.
And I thought that,
if I'm a father-- long
before marrying here, I
was thinking of marriage.
Every young man thinks
of marriage, you know.
And I was thinking that if I
marry and then I have children,
I must have a daughter, and I
will name her Malala Yousafzai.
Because Malalai of Maiwand was
a legendary great Afghan heroine
who raised her voice against
the British army in Afghanistan,
and who encouraged
the Pashtun freedom
fighters to go
back and fight big,
with bravery, who were
fleeing from the battlefield--
they bring back, and they
fought and they won battlefield.
And Malala of Maiwand, she gave
her life on that battlefield.
And she became a legend
in Pashtun-Afghan history.
So Malala had a name of
her own, because I always
tell that in patriarchal or
narrow religious societies,
women are usually known
by their men-- mostly.
Even, I give an
example that when
they take a woman to a doctor
and the doctor asks, OK.
What is the name of the patient?
And they say, OK, right--
Mr. So-and-so's daughter,
Mr. So-and-so's wife.
He feels ashamed telling the
name of his sister or his wife,
because even the name
is something private.
And I'll share an
interesting thing with you.
In Arabic, women
are called [ARABIC].
You know? [ARABIC] Can you
utter this word with me?
AUDIENCE: [ARABIC].
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: [ARABIC].
And [ARABIC] means the covered,
the hidden, the covered.
You understand?
So when you call
them the covered
and the hidden, the
behind-the-scene,
this very word that you
give them collectively--
it tells your perception
and your ideology
about women, freedom,
and empowerment.
So I thought that if I'm
a father, the first thing
I'll do that I will
educate her very seriously.
And I think that as I believe
in education, so I started
a school in the Swat valley.
It was an independent school,
and I started from scratch,
from three children.
We just recited the national
anthem of Pakistan, started it,
and in 2012 this school had
1,200 children-- 500 girls
and some 700 boys.
So Malala was in
the same school,
and I realized when I
was operating and running
that girl's school-- because
I came close to the girls--
and I realized that
how much brilliant
these girls are-- the way they
think, how much critical they
are in thinking, how
much confident they are.
And that's why, when Taliban
banned girls' education, so
we had to stand.
And Malala wrote a BBC diary.
She volunteered herself for a
"New York Times" documentary
to raise her voice.
And her voice was the
most powerful voice
for girls' education.
And what happened later on
is that voice was so powerful
that Taliban felt it is becoming
very popular in the country.
And rather than getting
terrified of our violence
and horror, people are
listening to the peaceful voice
of this girl.
I mean, her voice
was more powerful
than the suicide attacks
and bomb blasts of Taliban.
And they realized
that she should
be finished, because when
you don't have any argument
and when you are weak in your
argument, and you're violent,
then the only way you have
is to finish your opponent--
or finish the person who
doesn't agree with you.
But man proposes, God disposes.
The voice which they wanted
to silence on a local level,
it become a global voice for
every child, for everybody,
for the right of education.
Thank you very much.
I spoke for long.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
Sure, OK.
My chair's there?
OK, sorry.
It happens.
ADAM GREEN: So Jahan,
could you give us
some sense of the Global
Peace Centre of Canada,
and where you're taking Ziauddin
and the Yousafzai's story
and pushing it out
to global peace--
taking that global voice
and making it one for peace?
JAHAN ZEB: Thanks,
Adam, for having us.
And I want to thank
Sabrina to bring us here.
And there was lots of work
done by Vera and Vern.
Vern is in rafers
today somewhere.
[LAUGHTER]
But let me officially and
publicly thank, welcome
Ziauddin Yousafzai to be here
for the fifth or sixth time,
here in Canada.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: Yes.
JAHAN ZEB: But above all,
and beyond, Tor Pekai
is here with us, and she
is publicly coming forward
to support education, and
Malala, and Ziauddin, and peace
and education
everywhere in the word.
So thank you very
much, Tor Pekai,
for supporting mainly--
$1.5 billion people
are living in
conflict-afflicted countries
right now, according to
the UN estimates recently.
They have published
the statistics.
600 million are
young people, which
are living in
conflict-affected countries.
In Pakistan-- the country
which Malala belongs to and we
envision Global Peace Center
taking Malala's vision
of quality education to
be given to children,
to be given to young people.
And that vision is of
Ziauddin, and now I
found that the work which
Ziauddin and Malala was doing,
Tor Pekai was
standing behind them.
If she was not there, I believe
that-- I just don't think,
but I strongly believe
that-- they could not
have achieved what acheived--
a work they are doing
for us and for all of us
here in Canada, in US,
and in the world.
What the Global Peace Centre--
I'm coming to your question
now-- Global Peace Centre, as I
mentioned, in 600 young people
are living in
conflict-affected countries.
100 are in Pakistan only.
So if we don't
provide those children
the quality
education-- the concept
and skills of peace--
what they will be doing.
We don't have answers yet.
We don't have answers yet.
But what we can do together,
and through this initial start
of our organization--
Global Peace Centre Canada
started-- we have
a very good support
at Conrad Grebel College
and University of Waterloo.
They are taking administration.
They are managing our
charitable status.
So if you want to donate, we
hope that they can get it.
Now, the Global Peace Centre
Canada-- the aim or the purpose
is to provide hope and
opportunity to young people,
to be educated, to be having the
skills and concepts of peace,
and to be living like all
of us, like all of you.
And the vision for this is that
schools, colleges, universities
should have the
capacity to provide
those children, those
students the education
which they need-- which we
have usually in the West.
In conflict zones,
usually it is not there.
So I have a few statements
which I want to do go and to--
so the vision of the
Global Peace Centre Canada,
we envision that the root
causes of violent conflicts
are identified, are
analyzed, and conflicts
are transformed peacefully.
And students,
educators, and leaders
have developed the concepts
and skills of peace.
Schools, colleges,
universities, and leaders
have quality education.
And what that means--
quality education--
as Ziauddin mentioned, students
and educators, everyone,
should have the critical,
creative, democratic,
[INAUDIBLE] thinking.
They should have acceptance.
They should accept diversity.
They should accept
multiculturalism,
identities, pluralism.
In conflict-affected countries,
one major ethnicity or group
dominate others, and there
are questions of power.
So they need young
people-- through education,
they need to question the power
of the-- it could be states.
It could be dominant groups.
So when they empower themselves,
then they can live peaceful
and fulfilling lives.
And how we are going to do that,
to co-develop peace education
curriculum, working with
few University in Pakistan
and Wilfrid Laurier University,
Waterloo University, McMaster,
a few professors here at
University of Toronto--
so we'll be developing core
developing peace education
curriculum and provide
training to educators.
We were there in Pakistan--
I took a delegation
from U Waterloo and
Laurier University.
We spent a week and met with
150 graduate students, PhD
students, presidents
of six universities,
and professors of some
nine universities.
And what they were
telling us we need--
West has developed
a knowledge base
in peace and in the
concepts of education.
We need the training from you.
We need your support
in education.
So I think they're
looking forward
to provide the training.
They're looking forward to
provide peace curriculum,
support in peace curriculum.
Them.
And so I think with
Global Peace Centre,
we are developing those skills.
And we are honored-- we are very
highly honored-- that Ziauddin
is our honorary chair.
And when he is
coming to Canada--
he came last year in June.
Laurier University offered
a doctorate degree in Law.
And what Ziauddin was asking--
they asked if what we can do.
And he asked them, you
can provide a scholarship
to a young woman.
So now they have provided a
scholarship to a young girl
from Pakistan, which hopefully
will be coming in September.
Another talk-- which I
think Sabrina was at,
at WXN-- and
Ziauddin went, and he
received another support system
and came to Global Peace Centre
Canada.
And one young woman
from Nigeria, she
received that scholarship.
And she completed
her master's degree
in peace and conflict studies.
So what Ziauddin is
doing here in the West,
as well as in conflict-affected
countries-- it is in Syria,
in Lebanon, in
Afghanistan, Pakistan--
we need to support him.
We need to support his cause.
So thank you very much for
your support and thanks, Adam.
ADAM GREEN: Excellent.
You're most welcome.
So you mentioned that a huge
part of your organization's
mission is to push peace
education into universities,
and colleges, and schools.
But a lot of these people
who are fleeing conflict--
whether they're internally
displaced or refugees, they're
living in conflict
zones-- most of what
we hear is to do with peace
is peace negotiations,
peace summits.
It's all about the
political angle.
What's at stake for
these 600 million
internally displaced people and
people fleeing conflict zones
if we can't get education in?
Because most of what
we're focused on
is getting bandages, and
sutures, and doctors.
And you don't hear a lot of
talk about getting books in,
about getting crayons in,
and getting chemistry sets
into those locations.
What do we stand to lose as a
society, if we don't do this?
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI:
You're asking me?
ADAM GREEN: Yeah.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: OK.
As Jahan Zeb has
mentioned, so you
see the-- in any human
disaster or tragedy
like violent conflicts,
which we see in Syria,
in Pakistan, in Afghanistan,
and many other countries.
And children suffer most, and
especially their education
is at the receiving end.
Like when militants
started in Swat Valley,
their most favorite
and their most target
was girls' education and
education in general.
Taliban bombed more than
400 schools, only in Swat.
ADAM GREEN: This is during
the Talibanization of Swat?
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: Yes.
They bombed more
than 2,000 schools.
So a similar thing is
happening in Syria,
and according to
Malala Fund's data,
2.7 million Syrian refugee
children are not in school.
So 2 million are internally
displaced in Syria,
and 0.7 million are migrated
to the neighboring countries
like Jordan and Lebanon,
and these children
are without school.
Why their education is
important-- because generally
when global leaders, they come
together, are this discussion
goes on about
refugees' problems.
So they talk about
shelter, food, and water
and those things.
They are important.
Of course they are important
to survival and to live.
But I think, personally,
that education
should be in the category
of water, shelter, and food.
It is as important
as food is, and I'll
tell you why--
because we have seen
a generation lost
in Afghanistan.
When Afghanistan-- there was a
proxy war between Soviet Union
and America.
And that war was
fought on other land.
And other youth were
used as footmen soldiers.
ADAM GREEN: This is
the 1980s conflict.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI:
Yeah, 1979 and later on.
For 10 years it went on,
until the Soviet Union
disintegration.
And millions of Afgan children
who migrated to Pakistan,
they did not get education.
Rather-- Jahan Zeb will
tell you about it--
but they were
indoctrinated-- few
who were sent to schools--
they were indoctrinated
and radicalized to love
war, and to be jihadi.
So the big population
of the Afghan children
remained without education.
And now we see that those
children who grow up,
they are now young men.
And remaining without education,
they are a generation lost.
They have gone to the
mountains, and they are isolated
from the mainstream society.
And now they
believe in fighting,
in getting power through wars.
And they don't believe in the
Constitution of Afghanistan.
They don't believe in
democracy, because the way
they were indoctrinated
or they remained
without education,
that has taught
them the way of violence.
So when we talk of
education, we say that, OK.
It's very important that we must
provide all basic facilities
to Syrian refugees'
children to survival.
But they should get the
education in their camps
or wherever they are,
because if a child remains
without education for
three years, four years,
education is
something that it has
a particular, specific time.
When you lose that time, so
you lose your academic career.
So that's why these children--
I mean the future of Syria
depends on its children.
And the future of children
depends on education.
And if the world leaders,
the developed countries,
and the developing countries--
if they don't come together,
and they don't
fund the education
of the Syrian children,
God forbid-- one day
they will also be
a generation lost.
And we don't want to have
a generation lost in Syria,
because they will go back.
And if they have the skill,
they will rebuild their country.
I remember that when Taliban
banned girls' education in Swat
Valley, and I was the principal
and head teacher of my school.
And there was very much fear in
children and in the community.
And most-- I mean,
some of the boys,
especially girls-- they
even, when Taliban publicly
announced on their FM radio that
no girl will to go to school,
otherwise they will
face the music.
So there was a big drop out.
I mean, children-- but what I
did, every day in the morning
assembly, I used to tell
to the girls and boys
that I know we are in
a very hard situation.
I know it is very
difficult while you
are worried about your life
and you think of education.
But it's very
important, girls-- I
used to tell them-- because
whatever happens to you, if you
are displaced, if you
migrate, the only thing that
will help you that you
can carry with yourself
is your education.
ADAM GREEN: That's a lot
to ask of a 12-year-old,
to stand up to the threat
of violence every day,
just by virtue of
coming to school.
As they're sitting there
listening to that pep talk
from you, how many of
them said, OK, principal.
I see that.
But there's a man
with a gun out there
who's going to shoot me if
I come to learn chemistry.
I have to stay home.
And how many of them
stood up and said,
no, I'll keep coming to school?
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: You
will believe it or not,
our girls were so brave.
And they got so inspired,
because when the leader stands,
the people stand.
So I think I was a small
leader of my school,
and I was fighting
on every front
for the cause of education,
for the right of education.
And every girl-- and
you will astonish.
One day, a girl
came late to school.
And as usually principals
ask, I said, why are you late?
In a very dead mood, huh?
A very, very, very hard
mood-- why are you late?
ADAM GREEN: I remember it well.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI:
And she told me
that, I'm late because
my father and my brother
did not want me
to come to school.
And when they went
out for their work,
I stealthily came to school.
ADAM GREEN: That's
the best student ever.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: Yeah.
ADAM GREEN: Who sneaks
out to go to school.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI:
Yeah, but-- and I
tell you that when Taliban just
snaked this right of education
from girls especially,
they realized that, yes.
This must be important, because
the bad guys are stopping us.
So they realized the
value of education.
And girls-- I mean,
they stood like rock.
Not only one Malala-- every girl
in that valley was like Malala.
ADAM GREEN: Yeah.
That's a potent
opponent for the Taliban
to stand up to, when
you've got thousands
of little Malalas saying, no.
We're going to get an education.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI:
Yeah, of course.
ADAM GREEN: Fantastic.
So a nuts and bolts question--
how do you get that education
into those camps?
Right?
When you've got all of
these organizations trying
to get food, trying
to get water,
what is it that you
guys are doing to try
to get that education in there?
Because I know you're very
passionate about this.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: This is
everybody's responsibility,
right from the UN to
the developed countries
in the global North, and to the
countries in the global South,
as well.
They should not
be always taking.
They should give, as well.
As I'm honorary chair of the
Global Peace Centre Canada,
I'm also the chair
of Malala Fund,
which is an organization
working for girls' education.
And our top-most
priority, our focus,
is on refugees' education.
And especially,
nowadays we are focusing
on the education of Syrian
refugees, girls and boys both.
And I must tell you that
the Fund has projects
in Zaatari camp, in Azraq
camp, and Jordan, where
there are hundreds and
thousands of Syrian children.
And on 18th birthday of
Malala, she went to Lebanon.
And the Fund had constructed
a school in Bekaa Valley,
for 200 girls-- a
secondary school.
And now we are making
one more school there,
so I think the Malala
Fund will be educating
some more than 400 girls in the
Bekaa Valley, the Syrian girls.
Also, the Fund is highlighting
12 years of education
for the girls, whether they
are in Nigeria or in Syria.
Also, I should mention that
more than roundabout 30
girls are given
scholarships by the Fund are
who got free from the
imprisonment of Boko Haram.
So this is the work
the Fund is doing.
But we also highlight
12 years of education,
because when world leaders,
they come together--
because the world is led by the
global North, not by the South.
They decide.
They decide the values,
they decide the priorities.
What should be done first?
ADAM GREEN: So by
global North, you
mean Europe, North America--
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: By
the global North-- Europe,
America-- you people
do all these things.
OK?
So when they come together
and they talk about education,
so unfortunately it's not
their top priority, number one.
Number two, when they talk
about education they say, OK.
Basic education and
primary education
is enough for the children
in developing countries,
but we say no.
Because the primary
education, this is important.
You can't have
secondary education
without primary education.
But secondary education
is an education
that unlocks the potential
of the girls and boys.
And it gives them a wing to fly.
So if you want to have a women
leadership in our communities,
we must give secondary
education to other girls.
And the Malala Fund has
been successful in changing
the language of global
partnership for education.
They have now made 12 years
of free and quality education
compulsory.
The Norwegian government,
and many other governments,
I think, in future-- they will
agree with us in principle,
that 12 years of
education should
be compulsory for-- a
free, quality education.
ADAM GREEN: Fantastic.
JAHAN ZEB: I want to add a few
things to what Ziauddin said--
was Malala Fund is doing
huge work in her own Swat
Valley, Pakistan.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: Of course.
JAHAN ZEB: And there is-- in her
own, where Tor Pekai was born,
Malala was not born there.
She was born in Swat, but
in Shangla in Swat Valley.
Malala Fund and
Malala Yousafzai are
doing a huge amount of work,
and to provide that quality
education.
But one thing which I want
to add to what Ziauddin said
is, is it only civil society or
United Nations responsibility?
Is it only our governments'
responsibility?
Yes, civil society is playing
a big role-- United Nations,
and NGOs, and governments
are playing a role.
But businesses need to be a
part, working hand in hand
with government.
It is like a stool--
a three-legged stool.
If only government is working,
the stool is imbalanced.
If only civil
society is working,
still the stool is imbalanced.
But when businesses comes, so
this stool becomes balanced
and our society
becomes balanced.
So I think we need the
education, Malala Fund, Global
Peace Centre Canada, and all
civil society organization.
And civil society
organization-- what to me, I
mean from that is academia,
universities, schools,
colleges, comes part, and play
a big role into that equation.
ADAM GREEN: So it takes
multiple-- you're not going
to solve this all by yourself.
The governments aren't going to.
JAHAN ZEB: It is not only
government responsibility.
It is not only civil
society responsibility.
Everyone needs to be playing
that hand [INAUDIBLE] into.
ADAM GREEN: Excellent.
I think we have a
question from [INAUDIBLE].
AUDIENCE: First of all,
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH].
My question is regarding
your point right there,
about the role of the
Pakistani government
in promoting education.
From a government
that spends most
of it's budget on
military, how receptive
have they been to your message?
And what are the
challenges you've
faced, talking to the government
that's probably least focused
on education in the world?
How do you go to them and get
them to buy into your message,
and start not spending
money on military, but also
on education?
JAHAN ZEB: Yeah, I want
to respond quickly.
And I know Ziauddin will respond
in a very thoughtful way.
But I was in Pakistan,
as I mentioned.
We took a delegation from
New Waterloo and Laurier
University, and the government
information minister--
the federal government
information minister--
I heard him.
And they were made accountable
in front of a few thousand
people in one of the peace
and social sciences summit.
[INAUDIBLE] that
you said that you
were going to allocate a huge
amount of GDP to education.
So they didn't, but the
recognized in front of people
that we are in a
war-like situation.
We are in war and conflict.
Yes, when this situation,
we overcome that,
we are going to allocate money.
ADAM GREEN: So they're saying,
we're going to wait until all
the war is over,
and then we'll--
JAHAN ZEB: Yeah,
well, one thing--
the provincial education
has become, now,
provincial subject.
And it is becoming
one of the priority.
Now, what we will be
doing through different
organizations, through different
universities-- developing peace
education curriculum
and provide training
in the concepts of peace
and quality education--
then the government is willing
to adopt that nationally
or locally.
So I have trust in them.
And only one-- like
teachers and students
can do that, not necessarily,
until this government
and businesses come on board.
ADAM GREEN: Excellent.
Vera?
AUDIENCE: I just had
a question about what
role technology
has in solving some
of these educational problems.
If you can't reach
people in person,
what can technology do to help
you reach people remotely?
ADAM GREEN: So
for those of you--
I don't think that mic is on.
For those of you
who are watching,
the question was,
what can technology
do to help bring education
to people in conflict zones?
JAHAN ZEB: Ziauddin,
do you want to respond?
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: [INAUDIBLE].
JAHAN ZEB: OK.
But anyway, I will still
ask Ziauddin to respond,
because his answers
are excellent, always.
We are working with University
of Waterloo, Laurier
University.
So we have [INAUDIBLE].
We have developed
some e-learning,
some online education tool.
And I think technology
provides them those platforms.
And we would like Google
to be supporting some
of those platforms
or partnering with,
of course, Global
Peace Centre Canada,
but partnering with
the Malala Fund
as well, to be providing support
to young children and adults,
as well.
We also need to
educate older adults,
to unlearn some
of their behaviors
and learn some new things.
So I think technology needs
to playing a huge part,
and education needs to be
accessible to everyone.
And I think we were told that,
in Pakistan, that we need
to have access to journals.
We need to have access to
books, which is very costly.
And I think if technology, if
Google, if other technology
leaders-- if they partner
with universities,
we can provide that education,
those tools, to people.
And they can educate themselves.
Another thing which is very
important-- Western government
are not issuing visas
most of the time.
So I think technology can give
education people a doorstep.
ADAM GREEN: So technology's
a window to resources
that you would never
be able to fund.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI:
Yeah, I think
technology has hugely
transformed education
in every part of the world.
Once education-- I mean,
when technology was not
on this scale, you will astonish
that all the social media
channels-- like Google
and many other--
they are available in the same
village where girls were not
going to school, and where the
boys were not going to school,
that now they have computers.
They have iPads.
They have iPhones.
And they have access to
this flood of information.
And that's why we have virtual
universities, online teaching.
So this is a huge
transformation,
and information technology
has made modern education
and knowledge as common
asset of the human being,
for every part of the word.
ADAM GREEN: No longer locked
in certain institutions.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: Yeah,
nobody can lock them in.
It's for everybody.
It's for everyone.
It's very secular, Google.
And it's beyond gender,
color, [INAUDIBLE].
It's available to everybody.
And I find, sometime,
problem with this information
technology, as a father.
When my son is
busy on computer--
so when we think of
computer, my age people,
we think that there must
be some playing games
and that's it, about computer.
Because I'm of the
older generation.
I didn't use computer in
my whole life as a student.
[INAUDIBLE] I'm using.
But until my master, I
never did any assignment,
nothing on computer.
But my younger
son, in Birmingham,
when I see him busy at his desk
on computer I'll sometimes say,
Atal, you're not doing homework.
Because for me, homework
means having notebooks,
and writing something,
and reading something.
He tells me, but I'm doing
homework on computer.
I can't believe him.
So this is a big change.
ADAM GREEN: If he's doing it on
his Xbox, he's probably lying.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: Yeah.
And so you see, this
modern technology
has given a platform
of change to people,
like many people
in our community.
The girls are not supposed
to go out in the markets,
and they're not
supposed, sometimes,
even to send them to school.
But I see on social
media, the pictures
of girls who share their
views or their pictures,
their mother's pictures.
So this change is also
coming, gradually.
So we are very optimistic.
But I must support
Jahan Zeb's idea that--
I mean, this huge technology
and its organizations--
if they include
in their business
a mission to educate boys
and especially girls,
I think they can
contribute in a way which
no other revolution can do.
So the way they have
revolutionized the world,
through modern
technology-- if they
focus how to reach every
girl and boy in the world,
I think they can do it.
But it just needs a commitment,
and you are very rich in ideas.
ADAM GREEN: There
you have it it.
So it's on us, basically.
We have the tools.
If we can make that part of
our mission, to educate--
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI:
Yes, exactly.
ADAM GREEN: We can
provide that window
into all of human
knowledge for those people.
Fantastic.
Well, I think we-- are
we out of time there?
Or do we have?
AUDIENCE: Are we out of time?
It's almost 1:00.
JAHAN ZEB: Yeah,
we can take a few--
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: If
they have questions.
If they are tired,
then we just wind up,
because we talk too
much [INAUDIBLE].
ADAM GREEN: Yeah?
All right.
JAHAN ZEB: But we are enjoying
this conversation, so--
AUDIENCE: Is this on, Adam?
ADAM GREEN: It appears
to be on, yeah.
AUDIENCE: This is a bit
more of a personal question,
but I'm interested in knowing.
Obviously, your
lives have completely
changed since this incident.
And I'd love to know,
what's one cherished memory
that's just beyond your
wildest dream that's happened?
And is there anything you
miss from your life before?
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: What's
she saying, number one?
ADAM GREEN: Is there anything
you miss, from your life
before, when you were in Swat--
before everything changed?
Malala got shot and
everything changed?
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: What
I miss now, of that life?
ADAM GREEN: Pardon?
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI:
What I miss now.
ADAM GREEN: Yeah,
what do you miss?
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: Yeah,
there are many things.
I tell people that every night
in my dreams, I am in Swat.
I am in Pakistan, and I am very
engaged with my people on phone
and on Skype.
I'm in contact with them.
Also, the most important
thing of my life, which I
had there-- my
role as a teacher.
And I do miss children
sitting in the classroom--
when I used to enter, the
way they used to welcome me,
and the way we used to
share ideas with each other,
because as a teacher my
class used to be very open,
like with open discussion.
Because I never
told the children
that I am the one who
will teach you, and who
has every kind of knowledge.
I used to tell them
that, let's share things.
Let's share knowledge
or experiences.
And when I used to see
the light-- sharing
an idea, a motivation and
some inspirational thing
with children-- and
when I used to see
the light on the
faces of the children,
then I used to tell to
myself that, Ziauddin,
you are the most blessed person,
as a teacher, on this earth.
So I do miss my children.
I do miss myself as a
teacher in Swat Valley.
ADAM GREEN: Great.
Any other questions?
No?
Jahan?
JAHAN ZEB: Yeah.
Just one thing, which
I want from you.
I think we provide
some solution.
We cannot provide all solution,
but we provide some solutions
to children, to educators, to be
having some quality education.
And we cannot do that
only by ourselves.
We need all of
you here, which is
sitting in this room, as
well as your colleagues
all over the world.
So we need your support, and
please support this good cause
today.
Thank you.
ADAM GREEN: Excellent.
Well, thank you for coming.
ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: Thank you
very much for listening to us.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
