Back at school, girl the Taliban couldn’t silence
THE Pakistani teenager nursed back to health i n Britain after being gunned down by the Taliban returned to school yesterday.
Malala Yousafzai, 15, was shot in the head by extremists opposed to her campaign for girls’ education. She was attacked by gunmen who boarded her school bus i n Pakistan last October.
Close to death, she was flown to Britain for treatment where surgeons at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham saved her life.
She had a five-hour operation to fit a titanium plate over her damaged skull. She also had a cochlear implant fitted as her injuries had left her partially deaf.
She left hospital in January and yesterday started lessons at the fee-paying Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham.
She has joined Year 9 and will be studying a full curriculum in preparation for selecting her GCSE subjects.
‘ I am excited t hat t oday I have achieved my dream of going back to school,’ she said. ‘I want all girls in the world to have this basic opportunity. I miss my classmates from Pakistan very much but I am looking forward to meeting my teachers and making new friends here in Birmingham.’
Malala and her parents are now rebuilding their lives after settling in Birmingham.
Her father has been appointed education attache at the Pakistan consulate in the city.
Edgbaston High School is an independent day school for girls aged from two-and-a-half to 18. Founded in 1876, it is Birmingham’s oldest independent girls’ school.
The Pakistani government will be paying her £10,000 a year school fees.