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Malala Yousafzai makes education plea at UN (by Channel4News)

Reuters writes:

(Reuters) - Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban last year for demanding education for girls, marked her 16th birthday with an emotional speech at the United Nations on Friday in which she said education could change the world.

“Let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution,” a confident Yousafzai said to cheers from the podium.

Yousafzai was shot at close range by gunmen in October as she left school in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, northwest of the country’s capital Islamabad. She was targeted for her campaign against the Islamist Taliban efforts to deny women education.

“They shot my friends too. They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed and out of that silence came thousands of voices,” she said in Friday’s speech.

“The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born,” Yousafzai said.

Check out The Guardian, Devex, and The Huffington Post for additional coverage and commentary.