“Malala day is not my day. Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl who have raised their voice for their rights.” These are the words of teenage education activist, Malala Yousafzai. Since two years ago, when I first heard of her, she has become a major inspiration in my life. Even after the Taliban shot her in the head last October, Malala bravely continues on her fight for education.

In the beginning of 2009, Taliban militants began dominating Swat Valley, Malala’s hometown. They banned television, girl’s education, and women from going shopping. It was during this time that Malala began writing for the BBC about life under the Taliban using the pseudonym ‘Gul Makai’. Later on, the Taliban banned girls from going to school, and began destroying schools in the area. Malala continued to write, and chronicled all her thoughts during the First Battle of Swat, which was a battle between the Taliban and Pakistan over Swat Valley. Girls began skipping school, afraid of what the Taliban might do to them, and soon, only ten percent of the girls in Malala’s school showed up.

After Malala’s blog ended, Malala continued speaking for her rights to education. She began taking interviews and appearing on television to support girl’s rights. As her public image rose, threats started coming in. She received them on Facebook, in the mail, and even in newspapers. They escalated until finally, in August 2012, Taliban leaders met and unanimously agreed to assassinate Malala.

On October 9th, 2012, a masked Taliban combatant stopped Malala’s school bus in the middle of the road. He jerked open the door and climbed on, shouting, “Which one of you is Malala? Speak up, otherwise I will shoot you all!” Once one of the girls gave her up, he shot her in the head. Malala was then flown to a military hospital in Peshawar, and then later transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham in Birmingham.

Even though the Taliban shot Malala, they have failed in their attempt to silence her. As she said in her speech to the UN this year on July 12th, which has been dubbed Malala Day, “On the 9th of October 2012, the Taliban shot me on the left side of my forehead. They shot my friends too. They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed. And then, out of that silence came, thousands of voices. The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born.” This brave girl is still determined to accomplish her mission: to have all children in school. During her speech, she presented a petition with over three million signatures to the UN, urging them to help all children around the world gain access to education. The UN responded to this by recommitting to their Millennium Development Goal 2, which states that "by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling."

After reading about Malala, it made me think. There are a total of sixty one million children who are not in school because they can’t afford it, they don’t have access to it, or because they’re banned from it. Yet, we spend so much time complaining about homework, exams, and projects. Some of us even treat school as a social area, a place where we meet up with friends and have classes as well. To many of us, formal schooling is something we start when we reach the age of six, without question, without a doubt. But now I know that education is not a right, but a privilege.