Who is Malala Yousafzai?

GRADE LEVEL: Middle School

COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Speaking and Listening

On October 10, 2014, it was announced that Malala Yousafzai won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. She shares the prize with Kailash Satyarthi, a children’s rights’ advocate from India. Malala Yousafzai is seventeen years old and the youngest person ever to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. She was shot in the head in 2012 by the Taliban because of her outspoken views about girls’ education in Pakistan and other parts of the world where girls are prevented from getting an education. The committee chose Yousafzai and Satyarthi for the prize because they believe children’s rights are essential to long-term peace, stating, “It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected.”

This lesson provides an opportunity for students to learn about Malala Yousafzai, why she won the Nobel Peace Prize and to explore activism projects to address areas of injustice they see in the world.