Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai is celebrating her 28th birthday in Tanzania, where she is highlighting the challenges girls face in accessing education and early marriage rates remain high.
This marks her first visit to the country, during which she has met with local education leaders, advocates, and partners of the Malala Fund. The visit is part of her ongoing efforts to promote girls’ secondary education, a core mission of her foundation.
“Nearly two in five girls in Tanzania are married before the age of 18, and more than one in four becomes a mother before turning 19,” Malala said, citing national statistics.
Read: Malala Yousafzai returns to hometown 13 years after surviving assassination attempt
During her visit, she toured a school supported by a programme helping young mothers return to education — a project backed by the Malala Fund since 2022.
The initiative offers mentorship, mental health support, school supplies and community engagement, and has enabled more than 400 girls to resume their education.
“It was an honour to tour the school, meet the students and educators and learn from the community members making education possible for girls,” Malala said.
In a social media post, she reflected on her own experiences growing up in Pakistan, calling the classroom her “favourite place” and recalling how the loss of that space inspired her activism.
“Today, I was back in the classroom with girls who reminded me of those school days and of why this fight still matters,” she wrote on Instagram.
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