Malala’s book banned by private schools in Pakistan

Islamabad – A book by Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who fearlessly took on the Taliban, has been banned by a federation of private schools in Pakistan which said it would have a “negative” impact on students, a British daily reported Sunday.

“I am Malala” will not be included in the schools’ curriculum, nor will it be stocked in school libraries, Mirza Kashif, president of All Pakistan Private Schools Federation, was quoted as saying by The Independent.

The federation represents more than 152,000 institutions across the country.

“The federation thought we should review the book, and having reviewed it we came to the decision that the book was not suitable for our children, particularly not our students,” Mirza Kashif said. “In this book are many comments that are contrary to our ideology.”

Pakistan’s many elite schools are members of the federation. The government has no plan to put Malala’s book on curriculum of state schools, although it is not banned.

The book has been written jointly by the 16-year-old Malala, who was shot last year by the Taliban for campaigning for girls’ education, and a British journalist, Christina Lamb.

In the book, Malala tells of her life in the Swat Valley where her father ran a private school when it was under Taliban rule, of writing an anonymous blog for the BBC, and of her campaign for girls’ education.

Following its release last month, the Taliban threatened to attack bookshops that stocked the book.