Thinking back to your school days, just how hard would you have fought to make sure that girls had an education? Would you have fought tooth and nail? Or would you have just kicked back in bed and enjoyed a lie in? Well Malala Yousafzai almost gave her life in the fight for the right for girls go to school in her native Pakistan.
When I look back on my own school days, - I left high school twelve years ago to go on to college and university - education was just something that we all had to endure, put up with and get through, it is only now, that I realise what a gift it really is. And that gift is taken for granted by so many of us in this country.
However, in Pakistan, education is not a god given right to every child - in fact, if you are female then you are lucky to get an education at all. And it was this education that Malala was determined to fight for, even if that did mean her speaking out against the oppressive rule of the Taliban.
For being a forward thinking, free-thinking, and intelligent young woman, Malala was gunned down in 2012 by the Taliban for speaking up about the education rights of her and every other girl in Pakistan.
The shooting of the teenager shocked everyone around the world put also raised the profile of the young girl and her fight. Two years on, Malala has made an incredible recovery and became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize last week.
Since coming to the UK for treatment back in 2012 - she was brought to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for rehabilitation and safety - she and her family have made this country her home as she has continued to fight the good fight.
So many would have given up in the face of such adversity, but Malala has continued to fight - no matter what the dangers or the consequences of her work may bring. In just two years, she has gone from a Pakistani schoolgirl who was about to have her education taken away, to a true fighter for girl’s rights around the world.
Her message has continued to ring out as she has fought for the right for all girls to get an education, no matter which country they live in. Her work has further highlighted the inequality that exists in the world between boys and girl - particularly in the Middle East - as well as showing that every child has the right to an education to make a better life for themselves.
It seems only appropriate that Malala was in a chemistry lesson when she discovered that she was to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her wonderful work. Did she jump up and down like a demented fool? Of course not, she went back to the studies that she had fought so hard for.
This young woman has shown strength in the face of terrible adversity and was willing to risk anything and everything for what she believed in. All this young girl wanted was to go to school - how many children in this country throw away that precious opportunity on a daily basis? I don’t know about you, but it makes me slightly ashamed that I ever complained about school or pulled a sicky to have a day off.
So next time you are fed up with going to class, homework, and the daily grind of school, think about what Malala was willing to sacrifice to make sure she had the same opportunities that we are guilty of taking for granted.
Malala Yousafzai is one of the most powerful figures for women’s rights right now and I hope that her message continues to reverberate around the world - we all need to fight a little hard to make sure that all children are given the right to an education.
Malala is an inspiration to all young girls around the world and she truly is a formidable figure when it comes to fighting for what she believes - in what is even more staggering is the fact that she is still only seventeen years of age.
Forget all your popstars, actresses and two-bit celebrities that everyone seems to fawn over and call ‘inspirational’ or ‘idols’ instead, you should look at a young woman like this and hanging on every word that she says.
The world ‘inspirational’ is batted about far too often for my liking these days, however, for Malala Yousafzai this word doesn’t go far enough to describe the work that she has done and what she was prepared to sacrifice to make her voice heard.
If there were more people like Malala Yousafzai in the world, ready to fight for injustice and inequality, perhaps this world would be a far better place.
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