Harvard to honor Malala Yousafzai for work promoting girls’ education

Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai will be awarded the Gleitsman International Activist award from Harvard University on Thursday. 

The university announced in October that Yousafzai would be honored with the award for her efforts to promote girls’ education. Yousafzai, who became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, will receive the recognition at a ceremony at Harvard Kennedy School. 

{mosads}“Malala speaks powerfully to the strength and perseverance of women and girls who are oppressed,” David Gergen, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School and director of the Center for Public Leadership, said in a statement. 

“Her remarkable story has inspired girls — and boys as well — to follow in her footsteps and has activated a generation of practitioners and legislators who are fighting for equality in their own communities,” he added.

Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize for her global efforts to support education for all children. 

As a teen in Pakistan, Yousafzai survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban. She then went on to found the nonprofit Malala Fund, which invests in education programs to help girls go to school. 

At 21, she is now a student at Oxford University in England. She will receive a $125,000 prize for her work in improving children’s quality of life across the globe.