| [00:00.00] |
From VOA Learning English, |
| [00:02.92] |
this is the Education Report. |
| [00:05.97] |
Malala Yousafzai spoke to hundreds of young people |
| [00:09.95] |
at the United Nations On Jule 12. |
| [00:13.08] |
It was her first public speech since last October |
| [00:17.23] |
when the schoolgirl was shot in the head |
| [00:20.02] |
by Taliban gunmen in Pakistan. |
| [00:23.12] |
The U.N. speech continued her campaign to educate children. |
| [00:28.14] |
"The terrorists thought they would change my aims |
| [00:32.18] |
and stop my ambitions, |
| [00:33.38] |
but nothing changed in my life except this: |
| [00:37.14] |
weakness, fear and hopelessness died. |
| [00:42.17] |
Strength, power and courage was born." |
| [00:45.78] |
On the day she spoke, |
| [00:47.67] |
two groups announced that 57 million children |
| [00:51.66] |
around the world are not going to school. |
| [00:54.95] |
The two are "Save the Children" and UNESCO |
| [00:58.89] |
- The United Nations Educational Scientific |
| [01:02.53] |
and Cultural Organization. |
| [01:04.47] |
A little more than half of those |
| [01:06.91] |
who are not going to school are girls. |
| [01:10.20] |
In September of 2012, |
| [01:13.18] |
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced a program |
| [01:18.76] |
to get every boy and girl into school by 2015. |
| [01:23.43] |
Malala Yousafzai believes the goal is possible. |
| [01:28.13] |
"Let's pick up our books and our pens, |
| [01:31.48] |
they are our most powerful weapons. |
| [01:34.82] |
One child, one teacher, one book |
| [01:40.85] |
and one pen can change the world." |
| [01:44.33] |
Shiza Shahid is the executive director of |
| [01:48.11] |
a new program called the Malala Fund. |
| [01:50.55] |
She says the 16-year-old is a true spokes person |
| [01:55.18] |
and worrier for girls rights. |
| [01:57.97] |
The Malala Fund was created to support the voices |
| [02:01.45] |
calling for girls' education. |
| [02:04.14] |
The actress Angelina Jolie has donated $250,000 to the fund. |
| [02:11.12] |
A group called Women in the World donated $150,000. |
| [02:17.50] |
The first children served by the fund are 40 girls |
| [02:22.18] |
in Malala's hometown in the Swat Valley in Pakistan. |
| [02:27.76] |
These girls aged 5 to 12 had been working. |
| [02:32.54] |
Shiza Shahid says the girls have stoped working |
| [02:36.42] |
and are going to school. |
| [02:38.47] |
Malala Yousafzai is now going to school in England, |
| [02:42.35] |
but she talks to the girls in Swat Valley |
| [02:45.60] |
by the computer software program Skype. |
| [02:49.13] |
Shiza Shahid is also from Pakistan. |
| [02:52.76] |
She says the organizers of the Malala Fund are deciding |
| [02:57.84] |
what steps they can take to really change a girls' life. |
| [03:03.17] |
She says girls everywhere can help. |
| [03:07.08] |
Girls are also urged to tell their own stories online |
| [03:11.33] |
at malalafund.org. |
| [03:15.66] |
And that's the Education Report from Learning English, |
| [03:19.65] |
I'm Karen Leggett. |
