Malala Day is annually celebrated on 12th July on the occasion of young activist Malala Yousafzai’s birthday.
The day is marked to honor the young women who have been advocating for female education.
- It also emphasizes compulsory and free education for every child.
- Malala Yousafzai is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate of the world.
Background:
i.On July 12, 2013, Malala Yousafzai at the age of 16 years delivered a remarkable speech in New York, which is the headquarters of the United Nations.
ii.She focused on the need for worldwide access to women’s education and appealed to world leaders to bring changes to their policies.
- In support of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative, hundreds of youth representatives from across the world will come together for Malala Day – to celebrate Malala’s 16th birthday and show their support for universal education., therefore the UN declared that 12 July will be celebrated as ‘Malala Day’ to honor the young activist.
About Malala Yousufzai:
i.Malala Yousafzai was born in Mingora, Pakistan on 12 July 1997. She is a Pakistani activist for female education .
- She started advocating for women’s education in 2008 in Pakistan. In 2012, she was brutally attacked by the Taliban in Swat Valley, Pakistan.
iii.In 2015, an asteroid ‘316201 Malala- in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter’ was named in honour of Malala Yousufzai. In 2018, she joined Oxford University to study Philosophy, Economics and Politics.
Books:
“I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban’’ an autobiography of Malala,co-written with Christina Lamb was launched in 2013
Nobel Prize-
i.She became the world’s youngest Nobel Prize laureate at the age of 17 years in 2014.
ii.She is the second Pakistani to receive a Nobel Prize after 1979 Physics laureate Abdus Salam and the first Pashtun to ever receive a Nobel Prize.
- She shared the prize with Kailash Satyarthi, a children’s rights activist from India.
Other prominent awards:
- Asia Game Changer Awards 2014
- Sakharov Prize 2013
- Mother Teresa Awards 2012
