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"Education more powerful than any weapon" - Malala

by Astrid Zweynert | azweynert | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Thursday, 10 April 2014 23:43 GMT

Malala Yousafzai, winner of the Skoll Global Treasure Award 2014, speaks at the Skoll World Forum in Oxford, England, April 10, 2014. THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION/Astrid Zweynert

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* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai makes a powerful case for education as a global force for peace

Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai made a powerful case for education as a global force for peace on Thursday when she joined Nobel Peace Prize Winners Desmond Tutu and Muhammad Yunus in receiving a Skoll Global Treasure Award.

The 16-year-old powerfully spoke of her conviction that education should be a human right for millions of girls around the world who have been denied the right to attend school.

Her passion for education and refusal to back down after surviving an assassination attempt by the Taliban in her native Pakistan in October 2012 has inspired millions around the world.

Education was more powerful than any weapon, she told delegates at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford, England, after receving the award.

“I have witnessed extreme poverty, brutal extremism, discrimination, men who don’t not want women to be free, nor girls to go to school, I have seen the brutalities of war, natural disasters and other climatic changes," she said.  

“We raised our voices for our rights. We spoke out. Ultimately we won, truth won justice won, humanity won – we won.

"My goal is to struggle hard for women’s rights and for poverty. Peace, education and women’s empowerment is not only my dream but the dream of all of us today. We can succeed and we can do it but only by working together."

Watch Malala's speech (towards the end of the video) and find out more about her work with the Malala Fund.

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