Taliban survivor Malala wins a place at Oxford
HER incredible story has inspired millions and resulted in a Nobel Peace Prize.
Now Malala Yousafzai has added to her achievements by securing a place to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University’s Lady Margaret Hall.
The 20- year- old was celebrating after collecting her A-level results at Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham.
Miss Yousafzai, who narrowly avoided death in 2012 after being shot by the Pakistani Taliban for campaigning over girls’ rights to education, tweeted a screenshot of the confirmation yesterday.
She said: ‘So excited to go to Oxford!! Well done to all A-level students – the hardest year. Best wishes for life ahead!’
Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, wrote on Twitter: ‘My heart is full of gratitude. We are grateful to Allah and thank you to all those who support Malala for the grand cause of education.’
In March, Miss Yousafzai revealed she had received a university offer conditional on achieving three As at A-level, but did not name the institution. She admitted attending an interview at Lady Margaret Hall, saying: ‘It was the hardest interview of my life. I just get scared when I think of the interview.’ Alan Rusbridger,
‘My heart is full of gratitude’
the former Guardian newspaper editor and now principal of Lady Margaret Hall, tweeted a ‘welcome’ to Miss Yousafzai yesterday. She will follow in the footsteps of several world leaders. Famous PPE alumni from Oxford University include Benazir Bhutto, a former premier of Pakistan who also studied at Lady Margaret Hall, Burma’s pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, and Britain’s former prime minister David Cameron. Miss Yousafzai, who was born in Mingora, Pakistan, became an activist in early 2009 when she began writing an anonymous blog for the BBC about her life under Taliban occupation and promoting education for girls in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Her identity was revealed in December that year but she continued to speak out about her right – and that of all women – to an education. She was targeted with death threats as a result of her increasingly high profile, which resulted in a nomination for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2011. That same year, Miss Yousafzai, was awarded Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize. On October 9, 2012, the young activist was shot at point blank range in the head by a Taliban gunman who boarded her school bus. Two friends were also injured. She had surgery at a Pakistani military hospital and further treatment at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and made the city her home.
She has studied at Edgbaston High School for Girls since 2013. Two years ago, she received six A*s and four As in her GCSEs.
Miss Yousafzai has continued to be an outspoken advocate for female education despite receiving further death threats.
She was named one of TIME magazine’s most influential people in 2013, with her autobiography, I Am Malala, released the same year. In 2014 she became the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Her campaign for children’s rights to education across the world has seen her addressing the UN on the issue and meeting the Queen.
She has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump and in January issued a public plea for the US President to scrap his ban on refugees entering the country. In April, she was made the youngest ever UN Messenger of Peace.