“Education Can Change The World”

“One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world” – Malala
Yousafzai.

Have you ever heard this quote before? This quote is from Malala Yousafzai
when she delivered her speech at United Nations. Therefore, she became the
youngest person ever in the world for winning the world-famous Nobel Peace
Prize. Who is Malala Yousafzai? Why did she become such an inspirational
person? Then, let’s get started to getting know about her.

 Early Life of Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai is an activist and became an International symbol especially

for women’s rights and education. She was born on July 12, 1997 at Swat Valley
District in the city called Mingora. It was located at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province in Pakistan. Malala practiced Sunni Muslim and she was raised in low-
middle class family. Her parents named Ziauddin Yousafzai and Tor Pekai
Yousafzai. Malala was the eldest and has two younger brothers. Their family was
fluent to speak Pashto, Urdu, and English.

Malala childhood was pretty normal, she attended Kushal Girl High School
and College that her father had founded. Her father was a teacher also a social
activist. Because her father educational influenced, Malala worked hard to be an
excellent student at school and she decided to become a doctor.

 Life Under the Taliban

In 2007, her hometown was invaded by Islamic extremist called Taliban.

Taliban extremist began to take control and forced civilians to practice Syria law.
The Taliban was also destroying all the public facilities, shutting down the girls’
school, and they not allowed woman to participate for doing any social activities
in a society. It was a nightmare for Malala and their family also the people who
lived in Pakistan.
 On September 2008 at the age of 11, Malala gave her first speech under the
title “How Dare the Taliban Take Away My Basic Right to Education?” at the
press club in Peshawar. Her speech was well received and publicized all over
Pakistan.

In early 2009, a BBC reporter asked Malala’s father to find a student to write
about their daily life under the Taliban rules. Despite being threatened and
worried about his family safety, Malala’s father was agreed to let Malala shared
her stories with BBC. Malala began to make a blog and write about living under
the Taliban’s threat that made her and the other girls can’t go to school. In order to
protect her identity, she used her pen name Gul Makai.

 Getting Shot by Taliban

On October 9, 2012, at the age of 15 Malala was riding on a bus heading
home from school. Malala and her friends talked about their homework. On their
way to go to home, suddenly there were two Taliban members and stopped the
bus. One of the men interrogated the girls, and asked who is Malala among them.
They were threatened and scared. The man said if they didn’t tell him, he would
kill them all. The Taliban didn’t like her actions and critical thoughts, therefore
they targeted Malala because she was a threat.
Then, Malala was shot in the head by Taliban gunman. Malala was seriously
injured, the bullet through her head and her shoulder was also injured. Two other
girls were hurt too. After the incident happened, Malala was in critical condition.
Malala was brought to Pakistan military hospital, but four days later she was
taken to Birmingham, United Kingdom for intensive care.
 Malala’s Recovery
After arriving at United Kingdom, Malala was in coma condition. Shew was
survived but required multiple surgeries because the wounds on his head and face
were seriously damaged. In March 2013, after received many treatment and
therapy, Malala was finally fully recovered. Six months later, Malala was able to
continue her study and begin to attend Edgbaston High School for Girls in
Birmingham.
 Malala’s Journey as an Education Activist
Despite Malala was getting shot by Taliban, she didn’t stop fighting for
education for her country. On July 12, 2013 in her 16th birthday, she visited New
York and gave her speech at the United Nations. She made her speech focus on
education also children and women’s rights. She was also asked the world
leaders to change their policies about how important education is in a country
especially for girls.
Malala became a writer and wrote the book about her struggle for going to
school and lived under Taliban extremist. The titled of her book was I am
Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by The Taliban.
Her book was published in 2013.
Malala also mentioned by Time Magazine’s for the category most-
influential people in 2013. Later, she met Queen Elizabeth the 2nd and Barack
Obama after delivered her powerful and inspirational speech.
On 10 October 2014, along with Kailash Satyarthi an Indian children’s
activist both of them named as Nobel Peace Prize winner. At that time, Malala
was still 17 and she became the youngest person ever to receive this honorary
prize. She won for a reason, not only focus in education but she was also
promoted peace not violence against Taliban. She dedicated her award for those
voiceless and forgotten children, and feel frightened and want peace to change
the world.
Malala Yousafzai currently being an advocate education and she
graduated from Oxford University in 2020 with a degree in philosophy, politics,
and economics. And these days, she is still campaigning for education and
women’s rights