Malala Yousafzai blogged about her desire to go to school and became a symbol to girls around the world for education rights.
For the past four years, 15-year-old student Malala Yousafzai (yoo•SUHF•zy) has been speaking out for girls in Pakistan. She wants them to have the same rights to education that boys have. Pakistan is located in South Asia between India and Afghanistan. In some areas of the country, a militant group called the Taliban has forced schools that educated girls to close. In October of this year, the Taliban attacked Malala for speaking out about girls’ education. She was shot and badly wounded by a Taliban gunman.
People throughout Pakistan and the world were shocked by the attack on Malala. Children from dozens of countries sent cards and gifts to her in Britain where she is getting better at a hospital. Doctors are hopeful that she will make a full recovery. Pakistani children held up posters of Malala, lit candles for her, and called for the right to go to school. Several of Malala’s friends at school said that they now have more courage to continue their studies.
On November 10, the United Nations called for a “global day of action” and named it “Malala Day.” One million people signed a petition asking Pakistan to make sure that every girl has the opportunity to go to school. In honor of Malala, the Pakistani government has promised to build more schools. Each school will provide basic education to both girls and boys.
To give girls’ education even more attention, more than 100,000 people signed a petition asking politicians to nominate Malala for the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize is given once a year to a person who works for peaceful relations between people. In December, Malala was named runner-up for Time magazine’s 2012 Person of the Year.
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