An insider account of Malala’s first electoral battle

What do you say to an 18 year old who acknowledges the qualities of her opponent with grace and humility? She says her friend in the Opposition is "committed, hardworking, a kind person, a good student and is a role model to all girls of her school including me."

Her ambitions and desires are ordinary but there is everything extraordinary in her approach towards them. Don’t young adults her age have a tendency to overestimate their abilities and underestimate others; has this generation been stereotyped? However, this is no ordinary teen, this one is the world’s youngest Nobel Laureate.

Malala Yousafzai, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, 2014 wants to be the head girl of her school in Birmingham. She admits that it would be embarrassing if she loses and hence, is working with resolve to win her first electoral battle when the school's students and teachers vote to elect the student leader of their school.

She explains the various stages of the selection process for her school’s top job — in the first stage, the candidate writes a letter outlining her suitability for the position and their ideas about developing their role. Exuding confidence, Malala has worked diligently on her letter saying she worked as a "maths mentor for a class 8 student" and that "this engagement with juniors shows her commitment towards her school." While building a case for her candidature she cautiously rests her arguments on "her creative ideas, communication skills, commitment and passion.

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Conducting a SWOT analysis of where she stands versus her fellow candidate, she adds that while her competitor is a theatre artist who recently played the lead role of Éponine Thénardier from Les Misérables in a school play, she herself is a debater with a proven track record of representing her school on several inter-school competitions and has been relentlessly working on her communication skills. Her letter concludes. In fact on that day, Malala attended a concert in which her challenger is performing.

2 weeks later, she had been selected for the third and the final round along with 4 other girls including the one she thought was a strong candidate and was supposed to deliver a speech in front of the entire school with the others. A long list of applicants was drawn on the basis of the letters to the principal and candidates had to undergo 2 rigorous rounds of interviews before the selection to this stage.

Her speech indicated her unbroken bond with her home in Swat Valley in Pakistan. She recounted stories of her childhood that have shaped her present. Conscious that her home is still 3692 miles away in Pakistan, she reminds her schoolmates that she has been in the UK for just 3 years and thanks to her school, she is able to pursue her dream of getting an education.

Her sparkling wit reflects her grit, when she says "Despite being one of the shortest girls, even with a bit high heels and the majority of year 7s being taller than me, I believe I have the qualities, ideas and most importantly the passion and ambition a head girl needs, as they say, good things come in small packages."

The school voted. Malala didn’t become the head girl. She was elected as the Deputy leader of her school.

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"It was a close contest," she says in graceful acceptance as the second in command. With no bitterness, Malala communicated to the newly elected head-girl that she would work with her in complete sync and they would form a great team.

Today as she invariably prepares for the next stages in her life, Malala Yousafzai continues to prove that she is tough and there are lessons to be learnt from every lost battle. Her next stop could be Oxford University where she is applying to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics where Benazir Bhutto her Country’s first woman Prime Minister was the president of the Oxford Union. Is it a telltale sign?  Time will tell.

Image Courtesy: www.nbcnews.com

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