French president hails Malala as global symbol for equal education

French President Francois Hollande Tuesday hailed Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban for championing girls’ education, as a global emblem of the thirst for knowledge. Hollande, who met Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, said the 15-year-old was the “symbol of a young girl who fought for access to knowledge and education”, adding: “We all share Malala’s spirit.” Malala is recovering in a British hospital after being brutally attacked on her school bus on October 9. Zardari, whose government on Monday donated $10 million for a global war chest aimed at educating all girls by 2015, told Hollande that “every child, every Malala, has a right to education.” The Pakistan leader had also slammed Islamic fundamentalists for giving the religion a bad name. “The first word of the Holy Quran is ‘Iqra’ which is read,” he said, attacking the “fringe minority of darkness, of hatred, of conflict. “What extremists fear is a girl with a book in her hand,” he said. The UN estimates that 61 million children do not go to school and girls account for two-thirds of this number. In an attack that shocked the world, Malala was shot in the head as punishment for the “crime” of campaigning for girls’ rights to go to school. She survived the murder attempt but requires reconstructive surgery after the bullet grazed her brain, coming within centimetres of killing her.