I thank my father for not clipping my wings and for letting me fly. Thank you to my mother for inspiring me to be patient and to always speak the truth.
I am very proud to be the first Pashtun, the first Pakistani, and the first young person to receive this award.
I am pretty certain that I am also the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize who still fights with her younger brothers. I want there to be peace everywhere, but my brothers and I are still working on that.
This award is for the forgotten children who want education.
It is for those voiceless children who want change.
Education is one of the blessings of life-and one of its necessities. That has been my experience during the 17 years life.
We had a thirst for education because our future was right there in that classroom. We would sit and read and learn together.
Swat was a place of beauty which suddenly changed into a place of terrorism. Our beautiful dreams turned into nightmare.
Education went from being a right to being a crime.
But when my world suddenly changed, my priorities changed too.
Education went from being a right to being a crime. But when my world suddenly changed, my priorities changed too.
I had two options, either to remain silent or speak up. I chose the second one. I decided to speak up.
The terrorists tried to stop us and attacked me and my friends on 9th October 2012, but their bullets could not win.
We survived and since then our voices have been louder.
I am Shazia. I am Amina. I am one of those 66 million girls who are out of school.
There are still girls who have no freedom to go to school in the north of Nigeria. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, we see innocent people being killed in suicide attacks and bomb blasts.
Many children in India and Pakistan are deprived of their right to education because of social taboos, or they have been forced into child labour and girls into child marriages.
The first place this funding of the Nobel Prize will go is where my heart is, to build schools in Pakistan-especially in my home of Swat and Shangla.
We have seen some progress in the last couple of years. However, progress has not reached everyone.
Some would say it is impossible and practical. But it is time the world think bigger.
Why is it that countries which are considered strong are weak in bringing peace? Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books so hard? Why is it that making tanks is so easy but building schools so hard?
We must work, not wait. We all need to contribute. Me, you, we. It is our duty. Let us become the first generation to decide to be the last to see empty classrooms, lost potential.
Let this be the last time that a girl, or child is forced into early child marriage. Let this be the last time a child loses life in a war. Let this be the last time a child is seen out of school.
Let us begin this ending right now.