Addressing education ministers gathered at the London forum, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate framed girls’ education as an urgent challenge rather than a long‑term aspiration.
In the occupied West Bank, she said, Palestinian girls face barbed wire blocking their route to school.
“When I spoke to Palestinian girls earlier this month, their biggest concern was their upcoming exams,” she told delegates. “How can they continue their education if they can’t even reach their classroom?”
In Nigeria, where one in three girls is married before 18, Yousafzai said girls she met were clear about both the problem and the response they want from government.
“Girls told me we need to end early marriage – and at the same time, they wanted government policies that allowed married and pregnant girls to go back to the classroom, a pathway to continue their education without stigma or shame.”
In Afghanistan, where girls are banned from education beyond sixth grade, Yousafzai described a “regime of gender apartheid” that has pushed learning underground.
Across the country, she said, girls are listening to lessons in secret, sharing cassette tapes and books, and studying at home despite threats.
“One [girl] said, ‘All I can do is go to my room, close the door and read a book. It feels like an act of rebellion against their power,’” Yousafzai told the audience.
Every girl belongs in school – not someday, not in another 20 years, but now
Malala Yousafzai, Nobel peace prize winner and activist
The figure of 122 million girls out of school is equal to roughly the population of Japan or Egypt, she told ministers.
“Imagine how different life would be in Nigeria or Pakistan if every girl could reach her full potential, if she could contribute to her community with all her ideas and energy,” she said. “This is the world that girls dream about and strive for every day.”
Yousafzai said years of discussions with presidents, prime ministers and ministers had shown how quickly education drops down the priority list when countries face conflict, economic crises or natural disasters.
“When the world is in crisis, we see who is protected and who is pushed aside,” she said.
Speaking at the forum whose theme is ‘education for a shared future: peace, planet, purpose and pathways’, Yousafzai warned delegates not to lose sight of the human impact behind policy processes.
“Sometimes at conferences like these, we get caught up in the nitty‑gritty of policymaking, the work that each of us are doing every day, that often takes years or even decades to come to fruition. It is easy to lose our ability to imagine our capacity for the wonder of building a better world.
“Change does not begin with the world as it is, but the world as it could be,” she said. “Every girl belongs in school – not someday, not in another 20 years, but now.”
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