Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner in the history of Nobel Peace Prize, spoke to the delegates of the Oslo Summit on Education for Development, including United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, at Oslo Plaza, Norway on Tuesday to urge world leaders to spend more money on education.
One hundred countries committed in the World Education Forum last May to providing 12 years of free primary and secondary education to children until 2030. UNESCO published a report saying that 12 years of education per child is equivalent to $340 billion. However, Malala opposed the report, saying that this amount is trifle compared to the global military spending each country is producing.
"The shocking truth is that world leaders have the money to fully fund global education - but they are choosing to spend it on other things, like their military budgets," the young education activist from Pakistan said, according to ABC News. "In fact, if the whole world stopped spending money on the military for just 8 days, we could have the $39 billion needed to provide 12 years of free, quality education to every child on the planet."
As of today, people around the world are posting #BooksNotBullets selfies to support Malala's birthday advocacy.
