Malala Yousafzai has won the Nobel Peace Prize.
It is, arguably, the most prestigious prize in the world.
Yousafzai is 17 years old. She is the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yousafzai won it for her “activism” (peaceful fight for a good cause) to spread awareness of the need for girls to have access to education.
Yousafzai has faced terrible opposition from some people in her home country of Pakistan, who believe girls should not be allowed to attend school.
In 2012, when Yousafzai was 15 years old, she was physically attacked by those people, known as the Taliban. They wanted her to stop telling the world that girls should be educated. Yousafzai was taken to a hospital in England, where she was given life-saving medical treatment.
She has now fully recovered from the incident and lives in England, where she continues to stand up for girls’ right to education.
Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with another children’s rights advocate, Kailash Satyarthi. Satyarthi is 60 years old and lives in India, where he founded an organization called Save the Childhood. Satyarthi has led many peaceful protests in favour of children’s rights.
In a statement, the Peace Prize committee said that Yousafzai “has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations.”
Pakistan’s prime minister calls Yousafzai the pride of his country. He said in a statement that, “girls and boys of the world should take the lead from her struggle and commitment.”
Yousafzai was in the middle of a chemistry class at her school in England when she learned she had won the Nobel Peace Prize. She knew the announcement was happening at 11 a.m. and when that time passed, she thought she hadn’t won. Then a teacher took her out of the class and told her the good news. Yousafzai spent the rest of the day normally, finishing her chemistry class and going to the rest of her classes as usual.
The Nobel Peace Prize comes with a medal and a $1.4 million cash award.
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CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Malala Yousafzai is determined to bring attention all over the world to the importance of education for girls. What issues do you believe are the most important ones that are facing our world? What are three things you can do to bring awareness to them? Then, do those things!
Reading Prompt: Extending Understanding
Today’s article includes several links to articles that are related. Read two of these articles and discuss how they improve your understanding of Malala and her important work.
Primary
Extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge and experience, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Junior
Extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Intermediate
Extend understanding of texts, including increasingly complex or difficult texts, by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Language Feature: Double Consonant
Many words in English are written with “double consonants.” These can be tricky words to spell because they don’t sound different then they would with a single consonant. This means that learning to spell these words correctly is a matter of time and practise.
Underline all of the words that contain double consonants in today’s article.
