by Rachel Ogbu
“I am excited that today I have achieved my dream of going back to school. I want all girls in the world to have this basic opportunity. I miss my classmates from Pakistan very much but I am looking forward to meeting my teachers and making new friends here in Birmingham.”
These were the inspiring words of 15-year-old Pakistani student and women’s-education activist, Malala Yousafzai who was shot in the head by a member of the Taliban on her way home from school in northwestern Pakistan on October 9, 2012.
According to reports, she has been enrolled at Edgbaston High School, the oldest independent girls school in Birmingham, England as a ninth-year student.
She was recognized as “the world’s most admired children’s-rights advocate” by TIME’s Magazine who honoured her as a runner-up for TIME’s 2012 Person of the Year.
According to Aryn Baker, TIME’s Middle East Bureau Chief, Yousafzai’s primary cause which was to secure Pakistani girls’ access to education “has served to highlight broader concerns: the health and safety of the developing world’s children, women’s rights and the fight against extremism.”
Headteacher at Edgbaston High School, Ruth Weeks said Yousafzai will be treated as a normal student.
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