video transcript

Malala Yousufzai - the 15-year-old girl shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking in support of education for children, has become a potent symbol of hope in Pakistan. Children and activists gathered outside the Sindh provincial parliament in Karachi on Saturday to pay tribute to Malala after UN officials declared the day in her honour. Yousufzai, was shot a month ago by the Pakistan Taliban along with two of her school friends. The children performed a tableau depicting the shooting, ending by chanting 'I am Malala". On Friday, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the U.N.'s Special Envoy for Global Education, presented a petition to President Asif Ali Zardari. Signed by 855,000 people around the world, it calls for a massive programme to educate girls in honour of Malala. A new government initiative announced on Saturday will provide money to the families of more than 3 million poor children if they send their youngsters to school. Malala, seen here in an old interview with her father, is currently recovering at a British hospital specialising in dealing with gunshot and head injuries. More than 66 million schoolgirls worldwide are denied their right to schooling due to poverty, discrimination,and practices such as child marriage and violence.