Malala: Education Key In Fight Against Terror

Malala Yousafzai, the teenage activist shot by the Taliban, has told Sky News in an exclusive interview that world leaders need to wake up to the power of education if they are to combat terrorism.

Speaking in Birmingham at an event intended to show how technology can spread education to some of the world's most deprived children, Malala said: "A new generation is understanding it but politicians are quiet.

"And there can be several reasons for it, but I think it's important - if they realise their key goal is to combat terrorism - then they must educate the children, the people there.

"Because, as we can see in many countries, there have been wars but terrorists are still there ... the countries thought that they have fought now, they have ended terrorists, terrorists are killed. But no, through wars and weapons we can only kill terrorists - but this ideology of terrorism can only be ended through education."

Earlier this week, Malala sent her condolences via social media to those killed and injured in last weekend's terrorist attacks in Lahore, Pakistan.

Asked whether more needed to be done to protect women and children from these kinds of attacks, she said: "We need to think where did these people come from in the first place, suicide bombers who are killing people.

"Education is key but also the government ... they need to change their policies, they need to ensure that every child gets full quality education that brings the message of tolerance, patience and love for each other, friendship and harmony in society."

As well as studying for her A-levels, the 18-year-old has become an international campaigner on education, meeting many of the world’s leaders in her push to get more girls educated around the world, and collecting the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in 2014.

It was when she was 15 and living in Pakistan that she was shot in the head by the Taliban after campaigning for the rights of girls to go to school.

After recovering from her injuries she now studies and lives in the UK with her family.

Speaking via video link from Birmingham at an event aimed at connecting to thousands of children growing up in refugee camps, Malala answered questions from about two dozen teenage girls living in the Dadaab refugee settlement in Kenya.

They have been getting lessons as part of the Vodafone Foundation Instant Network Schools programme with UNHCR, which allows young people in camps across Africa to learn using tablet computers.

Part of the programme aims to use technology to connect the young people with "well known" international role models, like Malala, from whom they can learn.

Malala said it was too easy to take technology for granted.

She said: "For me, it was different because I came from Pakistan and our education was just a teacher and a book, so for me it was important that students here in the UK and other countries do realise what opportunities they have got.

"But today, talking to the girls in Kenya, it was amazing they said they see different places outside of the refugee camps, like trees and mountains, and I just never thought about it.

"Your world is so limited if you don't have access to technology and if you're not travelling around the world, you do not know what is there."

Malala is currently studying for her AS levels in Birmingham, and very rarely does interviews because she does not want to disrupt her studies.

But, she said, she is treated just like any other pupil in school, with her friends more interested in when she met footballer David Beckham, than in when she met President Barack Obama.