Malala returns to school

Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai returned to school on Tuesday, March 19, for the first time since October when she was shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls’ education. The 15-year-old who has now moved to the United Kingdom said she had “achieved her dream” and was looking forward to meeting new friends at the independent Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham, central England. Malala was flown to Britain after the attack for surgery for her head injuries and underwent several operations as recently as last month. “I am excited that today I have achieved my dream of going back to school,” she said in a statement. “I want all girls in the world to have this basic opportunity.” She will be studying a full curriculum in preparation for selecting subjects for GCSEs, the standard exams that English schoolchildren typically sit at 16. Malala was shot at point-blank range by a Taliban gunman as her school bus travelled through northwest Pakistan’s Swat Valley on October 9, in an attack that drew worldwide condemnation.

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