Malala Yousufzai
Malala, a young activist girl from Pakistan who fights for girl´s education rights. I can describe her as
a brave and smart girl who stood up not only for herself but for all the girls who care about education
and development. Malala began her journey when she was just 11years old. she did many interviews
and talked on TV and spoke out about girls right to have education and once said “How dare the
Taliban take away my basic right to education?”.
She continued her activities by writing diaries anonymously to BBC about her life in Pakistan under
Taliban’s power. She wrote diary about the hard situation under Taliban’s power in west north of
Pakistan. At the time that TTP which stands for (Tehrike Taliban Pakistan) attempted to restrict girls
from getting education and being socially active. They tried to conduct bomb on girls as well Contrary
to all the warnings from Taliban, she pursued her public campaigns to approach a free quality
education for girls. In a short time, she won Nation Youth Peace prize for all her valuable struggles for
young girls in Pakistan.
Malala Yousufzai never stopped fighting for women, but Taliban didn’t want to see any progress in
the process of women’s development. They decided to murder any person who is against their
values. When Malala was only 15, a gunman fired at her and her friends on the way home on the
bus. She got serious damages on her head and face and her friends injured seriously. They sent her to
a military hospital and for further treatment she was sent to England.
This incident raised awareness for education in UN and many countries in the world. This terrible
experience didn’t cause Malala to back down from her goal. She began to study again in high school
in Birmingham. After a while she had a speech in united nation. She announced that “I speak not for
myself, but for all girls and boys. I raise up my voice – not so that I can shout, but so that those
without a voice can be heard.” She talked also about other incidents and terrors against girls in
Pakistan. She notified the importance of education, that we need the light in our darkness. This light
can be education. Yousufzai invited all governments and countries to develop the educational
opportunities. She resumed her efforts with writing book about her life, I Am Malala. She won also
peace prizes in united states such as Nations Human Rights Prize which holds every five years. And in
2013 appeared on Time magazine cover as the most influential people in this issue.
Finally, her great efforts for girl´s education resulted in a nomination for international peace prize.
In 2014 she won the Nobel prize along with Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi and
became the youngest person who won the Nobel prize. Nowadays Malala has her own fund named
Malala fund, working with educational funds in six countries and attempts to develop circumstances
for education in those areas. as she said “One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change
the world. Education is the only solution. Education first.”.
