Attacked over education, she’s now going to Oxford
LONDON — Malala Yousafzai is going to Oxford.
Yousafzai, the 20-yearold Pakistani-born activist who is the world’s youngest Nobel laureate, on Thursday tweeted a screenshot of her acceptance to the university.
“So excited to go to Oxford!! Well done to all A-level students — the hardest year. Best wishes for life ahead!” she wrote on Twitter.
In March, Yousafzai received a conditional offer from Oxford’s Lady Margaret Hall, contingent on her exam results. Pakistan’s first female prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, also studied at Lady Margaret Hall in the 1970s.
Yousafzai said she would be studying philosophy, politics and economics, or PPE, which the Guardian called “the Oxford degree that runs Britain.”
The news that she would be attending one of the world’s leading universities came at the beginning of a frenetic, roller-coaster season for students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who on Thursday were receiving the results of A-level exams that could decide their futures in higher education.
Yousafzai was 15 when a Taliban gunman in Pakistan shot her in the head for her work advocating girls’ education. At the time, she had been blogging for the BBC about life under the grip of the terrorist group after an edict by the militants in 2008 banned girls from attending school.
In 2014, Yousafzai was flown to Britain for medical treatment and reconstructive surgery. She later relocated to the city of Birmingham, England, with her family.
That year, she was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “her struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.” The other honoree was Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi.
Yousafzai also founded the Malala Fund, an advocacy organization for girls’ education worldwide. This year, she became the youngest United Nations messenger of peace with a special focus on girls’ education.
“If you want to see your future bright, you have to start working now and not wait for anyone else,” she said in her acceptance speech at the U.N. headquarters in New York.
Yousafzai attended her last day of the equivalent of high school in July. She said then that she would travel to the Middle East, Africa and Latin America to meet with other girls.
“I enjoyed my school years, and I am excited for my future,” she wrote. “But I can’t help thinking of millions of girls around the world who won’t complete their education.”
On Thursday, Yousafzai’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who is also a women’s rights activist, took to Twitter to celebrate her acceptance to Oxford.
“My heart is full of gratitude,” he wrote, thanking those who supported his daughter for “the grand cause of education.”
Amid the rush of joy, disappointment or dashed expectations for the thousands of students across Britain receiving their A-level results, Yousafzai’s news carried special weight on social media. Author Emma Kennedy wrote simply, “Take that, Taliban.”