Malala Yousafzai was born in Swat Valley, Pakistan, to a Sunni Muslim family of Pashtun ethnicity. Her father is a poet, school owner, and educational activist. He was her first teacher and educator, inspiring her curiosity and activism. In 2008, when Yousafzai was 11 years old, Taliban militants took over Swat Valley, enforcing strict Islamic law, banning music and television, forbidding women from going shopping, and preventing girls’ education by destroying and shutting down girls’ schools. In protest of the school closings, her father took her to a press club in Peshawar, where she gave her first public speech titled “How Dare the Taliban Take Away My Basic Right to Education?” In January 2009, following the shutdown of all the girls’ schools, Yousafzai began writing a blog for BBC Urdu. For three months, using the pseudonym name Gul Makai, she wrote 35 entries where she shared her experiences under the Taliban regime. During this period, 12 years old Yousafzai was interviewed for a Pakistani talk show, making her first TV appearance. After a short cease-fire, in which the Taliban allowed girls to attend school as long as they wore burkas, the Pakistani Army entered the region to gain control. For her safety, she was sent to live with relatives until the Taliban’s defeat. A few months earlier, a New York Times reporter made a short documentary about Yousafzai and her school shutdown. After the documentary aired, Yousafzai was interviewed in various newspapers and TV shows, both in Pakistan and abroad, using the platform to advocate for women’s education. Receiving the media attention, it became apparent that Yousafzai is the BBC’s blogger, and she gained recognition for her activism, was appointed chair of the District Child Assembly of the Khpal Kor Foundation, and was awarded Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize. In 2011, at the age of 14, Yousafzai joined the Aware Girls, a local girls’ empowerment organization training its participants to oppose radicalization peacefully through education. With her growing familiarity, Yousafzai received death threats through social media and in newspapers that slipped under the door of her home. On October 9th, 2012, while on her way home from school, a masked gunman went on her bus and shouted “Which one of you is Malala?” and shot her in the face. The bullet traveled 18 inches from the side of her left eye, through her neck to the shoulder. Yousafzai survived the attack, suffering from damage in a nerve that paralyzed the left side of her face. Yousafzai’s attack caused an international protest and a call for action. UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, introduced a petition in Yousafzai’s name, demanding that till 2015 no child be left out of school. The petition led to the ratification of the first Right to Education Bill in Pakistan. In 2012, the Pakistani President launched a $10 million education fund in Yousafzai’s honor, and the Vital Voices Global Partnership founded the Malala Fund to support girls’ education worldwide. Three months after her attack, Yousafzai was released from the hospital, continuing her rehabilitation at her new home in Birmingham. There, she attended the all-girls Edgbaston High School while continuing her activism. On July 12th, 2013, on her 16th birthday, Yousafzai addressed the UN, making her first public appearance after being shot only nine months earlier. In her speech, she urged the world leaders to focus on women’s education rights. The UN named the event “Malala Day.” She met Queen Elizabeth II and President Barack Obama and co-authored a memoir called “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban.” In 2014, Yousafzai received the Nobel Peace Prize, alongside Kailash Satyarthi, a children’s rights activist from India, becoming the youngest Nobel laureate at the age of 17. In the following year, at age 18, she opened a school in Lebanon for Syrian refugees. After graduating high school, Yousafzai studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Oxford, England, receiving her degree in 2020. She published two more books – a picture children’s book titled “Malala’s Magic Pencil” and a collection of experiences titled “We Are Displaced: True Stories of Refugee Lives.” Yousafzai continues advocating for women’s education and promoting human rights in various ways, including raising funds and establishing institutes and programs for this cause.   Dive deeper into the inspiring story of Malala Yousafzai with our fun and engaging printable worksheet! Available now on Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers. Read more...