Malala opens school for Syrian refugee girls on 18th birthday

In this photo taken in Feb. 2014, Malala Yousafazi speaks during a press conference at Zattari Syrian refugee camp near the city of Mafraq, Jordan. Education campaigner of Pakistan Malala visited the Syrian refugee camp on the Syria-Jordan border on Tuesday, meeting hundreds of Syrian war refugees. (Xinhua/Mohammad Abu Ghosh)

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who marked her 18th birthday in Lebanon on Sunday, July 12, inaugurated the Malala Fund’s “Malala Yousafzai All-Girls School” near the Syrian border, aiming to provide quality secondary education to more than 200 Syrian girls living in informal camps in the Bekaa Valley region.

“I am honoured to mark my 18th birthday with the brave and inspiring girls of Syria. I am here on behalf of the 28 million children who are kept from the classroom because of armed conflict. Their courage and dedication to continue their schooling in difficult conditions inspires people around the world and it is our duty to stand by them,” Malala said.

In honour of the third Malala Day today, the Malala Fund also announced a grant of $250,000 in support to UNICEF and UNHCR, to meet the funding deficit for girls’ school programming in Jordan’s Azraq refugee camp.

“On this day, I have a message for the leaders of this country, this region and the world – you are failing the Syrian people, especially Syria’s children. This is a heartbreaking tragedy – the world’s worst refugee crisis in decades.”

The Malala Fund is also providing funding to local partner NGO in Lebanon, the KAYANY Foundation, to provide baccalaureate and life skills training to 200 Syrian refugee girls between 14 to 18 years old.

The new curriculum will assist students to receive their baccalaureate or vocational degrees through the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education or the Syrian equivalent. Students unable to commit to the four-year training will participate in skills courses intended to help them find work and generate their own incomes.

People globally have taken action in support of Malala Fund’s #BooksNotBullets campaign to highlight the importance of quality education for girls around the world.

Together with leading education groups, the Malala Fund is calling on world leaders to invest an additional $39 billion in education – the equivalent of only eight days of military spending – to ensure that every child gets 12 years of free, quality primary and secondary education.

“On behalf of the world’s children, I demand of our leaders to invest in books instead of bullets. Books, not bullets, will pave the path towards peace and prosperity. Our voices will continue to get louder and louder until we see politicians and our governments invest in the education of their youth rather than military and war,” said Malala.

“To all the students, you will read new books. You will discover new ideas. You will learn together. You will dream together. And you will inspire the world”.