Activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai says the coronavirus pandemic will cost millions of girls worldwide their education.
The 23-year-old University of Oxford graduate, cover star of British Vogue's July edition, told the magazine that Covid-19 had drastically affected progress made over 20 years as many young women were being forced to abandon their education.
“It’s because these girls are now in their homes and they now have more family work to do, they’re asked to do family chores, they’re asked to become financial supporters for their family," she said.
“All these girls are pushed into early child marriages and many of these girls may never be able to return to school.
“This is something that we saw in the Ebola crisis as well and this is the fear that I have for girls – that they will lose their education because of this pandemic.”
In February, the UN predicted the pandemic would cause years of lost learning because of a lack of stimulus spending on education.
Its research showed that education received just 0.8 per cent of the global economic packages designed to mitigate the pandemic.
It also showed that two thirds of the world’s poorest countries reduced their first post-Covid education budget, compared with one third of the world's richest countries.
The effects of these cuts would be disproportionately felt by girls, the UN said, concerns that led Unicef this year to launch a digital learning passport aimed at redressing the gender divide.
The need to close this gap prompted Ms Yousafzai in 2013 to found the Malala Fund, a charity that champions girls’ rights to safe, quality education.
Ms Yousafzai questioned the future of disadvantaged young women when circumstances returned "to normal", telling British Vogue that education programmes must be more inclusive.
“What does it mean for their education, especially now that we are shifting towards more education that is based on technology and more digital education?” she said.
“The challenge ahead is to ensure that education is inclusive, that we bring in policies that are inclusive and that take girls into account.”
Ms Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman at the age of 15 after campaigning for girls in her native Pakistan to be educated.
She became a globally renowned advocate of the rights of girls and women around the world.
Her work was rewarded with the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2015, and in March this year she signed a deal with Apple TV+ to produce programmes to advance her cause.
Race card
1.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,200m.
2.15pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,200m.
2.45pm: Handicap Dh95,000 1,200m.
3.15pm: Handicap Dh120,000 1,400m.
3.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,400m.
4.15pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,800m.
4.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,950m.
The National selections:
1.45pm: Galaxy Road – So Hi Speed
2.15pm: Majestic Thunder – Daltrey
2.45pm: Call To War – Taamol
3.15pm: Eqtiraan - Bochart
3.45pm: Kidd Malibu – Initial
4.15pm: Arroway – Arch Gold
4.35pm: Compliance - Muqaatil
Day 2, stumps
Pakistan 482
Australia 30/0 (13 ov)
Australia trail by 452 runs with 10 wickets remaining in the innings
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Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
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Team Angel Wolf Beach Blast takes place every Wednesday between 4:30pm and 5:30pm
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
