Articles

World Malala Day 2023, All About The Brave Girl

The United Nations has declared 12th July as World Malala Day to honour the young activist, Malala Yousafzai. Malala Day is commemorated, the birthday of Malala Yousafzai to honour women and children’s rights around the world.

On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen after she publicly advocated for the education of girls. Despite the attack, Malala soon returned to the public eye, fiercer in her views than earlier and continued her advocacy for gender rights. She founded the Malala Fund, a non-profit organization to help young girls go to school and also co-authored a book titled “I Am Malala”, an international bestseller.

Malala has been felicitated with several awards and honours:

In 2012, she was awarded the first-ever National Youth Peace Prize by the Pakistan government.
In 2014, at age 17, She became the youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her efforts for children’s rights which had begun even before she was shot.
The UN has declared her as “the most famous teenager in the world” in its Decade in Review report in late 2019.
Malala has also been awarded honorary Canadian citizenship and became the youngest person to address the House of Commons in Canada.
The documentary on the activist, He Named Me Malala, was shortlisted for the Oscars in 2015.
She has also authored another book titled We Are Displaced that chronicles her experiences of travelling the world and visiting refugee camps.

Despite the attack, Malala soon returned to the public eye, fiercer in her views than earlier and continued her advocacy for gender rights. She founded the Malala Fund, a non-profit organization to help young girls go to school and also co-authored a book titled I Am Malala, an international bestseller.

Apart from having a day dedicated to her, Malala has been felicitated with several awards and honours. In 2012, she was awarded the first-ever National Youth Peace Prize by the Pakistan government. In 2014, at age 17, Malala became the youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace prize in recognition of her efforts for children’s rights which had begun even before she was shot. The UN has declared her as “the most famous teenager in the world” in its Decade in Review report in late 2019.

Malala Day is commemorated on July 12, the birthday of Malala Yousafzai, to honour women and children’s rights around the world. On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen after she publicly advocated for the education of girls.

Things to know about Malala

It’s difficult to separate Malala Yousafzai from her Nobel Peace Prize or the work she achieves through her nonprofit organization, the Malala Fund, which seeks to make quality education accessible to girls around the world. But behind the titles, awards, and wise demeanor is a 23-year-old recent college graduate who is nervous about the future and isn’t sure about what comes next.

Malala has been an advocate for equitable access to education for girls since age 11, when she began blogging about life under the Taliban’s rule in Pakistan using the pen name Gul Makai. After Malala gained international notoriety for her activism, a Taliban gunman shot her on her way home from school, forcing her family to leave Pakistan and move to Birmingham, England, to keep her safe from the militant group.

She is part of the Online Class of 2022

In 2018, Malala enrolled at Oxford University to study politics, philosophy, and economics at Lady Margaret Hall, one of Oxford’s constituent colleges. Despite her name recognition and life experience, Malala wanted to blend with the students and meet other educated women who were pursuing their aspirations.

“I didn’t want them to see me as, like, you know, what they see on TV, and how other people would define Malala,” she told British Vogue. “I just wanted them to see me as any other student.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to pause in-person classes and send students home, Malala moved back in with her family and finished her degree online. Afterward, she — and millions of other students who graduated during the pandemic — began wondering what she would do next.

She is nervous about what happens after college

After graduating, Malala considered her options. The Malala Fund, which was established in 2014, would continue to grow and champion girls’ education by working with young people and organizations around the world. But the experienced activist couldn’t help but wonder what she would do to encourage her own personal growth, particularly after COVID-19 hindered her plans to travel during a gap year.

“I’m sitting in bed, scrolling through my private Instagram, thinking, ‘What am I doing?’” Malala said. “I had a secret Twitter account for a year … before I joined officially, and I had, like, 4,000 followers or something. I was doing really well.”

The pandemic did allow her to have some much-needed downtime, though, and inspired her next move.

Also See: