BBC Features Ain Husniza In A Video Highlighting #MakeSchoolASaferPlace Campaign
The student activist was also chosen to join the AFS Global You Changemaker programme.
By Daranee Balachandar — 18 May 2021, 07:21 PM
Student activist Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam and her campaign to #MakeSchoolASaferPlace gained recognition from BBC News yesterday, 17 May
BBC News highlighted Ain's journey in stopping rape culture in Malaysian schools since her campaign #MakeSchoolASaferPlace began last month. The campaign was started by the 17-year-old after her teacher made a rape joke in class.
Ain's story was captured in a two minute and 52 second long video, which was uploaded on the British news website and YouTube channel.
The video revisits Ain's original posts on social media regarding the incident involving the teacher and the support and criticism the teenage activist has encountered since her campaign began.
BBC also included clips of Ain explaining her intentions and hopes behind the campaign. Her father, Saiful Nizam Abdul Wahab, also made a few comments in the video titled 'The Cost Of Calling Out A Rape Joke'.
"This thing is sensitive because it's a rape joke, it's a rape joke, somebody's trauma how can I not be sensitive over it?" Ain said to the BBC
Regarding rape culture in Malaysian schools, she said that, "We want to stop this here. We want to educate. We want to change."
When talking about the backlash his daughter has received, Saiful said that, "It made us sad but at the same time it gave us proof that our culture, our society, we need to rectify this and come out from that kind of way of thinking."
The SMK Puncak Alam student stated in the video that she was scared and cried after receiving a rape threat from a schoolmate, which a senior police officer later said was maybe a 'joke'.
"I'm being let down by all these adults, all these educators that obviously should know better than me, should obviously know better than us 17-year-olds," Ain said, referring to the negative comments allegedly made against her on social media by her school principal.
The Ministry of Education later released a statement saying that that the principal's Facebook account had been hacked. Ain also received an expulsion warning from the school as she had not attended class due to feeling unsafe.
The video noted the support Ain has received from her parents and included her father proudly saying, "This little girl that I brought up from a baby, wow, she has this bravery all this while in her. I cannot express how proud I am."
Meanwhile, board members of Yayasan AFS Antarabudaya Malaysia (AFS Malaysia) will be sponsoring Ain to participate in its online AFS Global You Changemaker programme
AFS Global You Changemaker programme is a global interactive virtual exchange programme for teenagers aged between 15 and 17 years old.
According to its website, the programme is designed "to develop global competence skills (and) create innovative social impact projects".
The programme was created with the intention of bringing together youths around the world who are interested in global issues, passionate about creating social change in their communities, and is keen in entrepreneurship, innovation, design, sustainable development, or social justice.
In a statement made available to SAYS, AFS Malaysia said Ain was chosen for the 12-week online programme "as recognition and appreciation of her courage, bravery and tenacity in encouraging not only her peers but also students around Malaysia to voice out problems they face in school through her #makeschoolasaferplace initiative, which has since gone viral".
Upon successfully completing the programme, the youths involved in the programme will receive a certificate from the University of Pennsylvania Centre for Social Impact Strategy.
"AFS Malaysia promotes active global citizens and Ain Husniza fits the bill," the organisation's chairperson Khalilah Dato Mohd Talha said in a statement today, 18 May.
