Malala has been an inspiration since she first began speaking up for a girls right to education back in 2008. Having spoken out, been persecuted for it and come back stronger than before, and all before her 18th birthday, she stands testament to what can be achieved by anyone with enough courage and the right support. She speaks often of the love and encouragement from her parents. I’d really recommend watching her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, and the trailer of He named me Malala to hear about her story in her own words and her book has been on my wishlist for a while now!
Reading about her recent GCSE results in a BBC article made me buzz with excitement. This was an inspirational story twice over. Malala achieved this success in the toughest of circumstances, recovering from the shooting in a new country, attending school with a new language and culture , while still pining for her homeland and giving frequent talks and leading campaigns to promote education worldwide. To gain such high grades inspite of all this is fantastic!
The other way of looking at this, that should lend hope to my students and anyone struggling through school, is that Malala was already meeting world leaders, speaking at the UN and being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize before she even took the exams. She didn’t need academic credentials to make her voice heard and she speaks in such an articulate and powerful manner that no one questions her understanding or her age.
In short, sharing Malala’s exam results should give students encouragement that they can not only work through and overcome any challenge but that their acheivements and their contributions are not dictated by academic success. And that you should never believe anyone who says ‘that’s just how things are’.
Muggins Here 
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