I really want to share with you what I am doing with A World at School and ask you to join with Malala Yousafzai as, against the odds, she celebrates her 16th birthday. Today Malala marks her birthday with her first public speech and will address the United Nations in New York speaking about her passion for education for every child. Her audience will be young people from all over the world gathered for the UN Youth Takeover and ready to pass their own resolution for education that day.
You can’t fail to be moved by Malala’s own story as she recovers from the unspeakable Taliban shooting on her school bus last Autumn and stands determined to help every child fulfill his or her potential while still a child herself.
Over the past few months, through my own work and across the international media, I've been able to witness a growing interest and need for change in global education. I am really excited to be part of the platform for education called A World at School. The digital platform brings together organisations from around the world and highlights the great work they are doing to get children into school and learning. Here Malala has launched a petition for us all to sign and we hope to reach one million new signatures by Friday.
The goal of A World at School is to bring more attention to the campaigns, programs and movements that are working to achieve educating the 57 million children currently not in school. By accomplishing this goal, we are also working to cut back on other major international issues such as child labour, unfair discrimination against children with disabilities, girls being forced into early marriage, and the spread of infectious diseases.
So watch Malala's vine, and sign up to her cause - it's as easy as sharing a Facebook post, following us on Twitter, and signing up for updates.
Time is running out for the world's children. We have less than 1,000 days to meet the Millennium Development Goals and get all children, everywhere, into school and learning by 2015. We are short two million teachers. Four million classrooms. A billion books and countless tablets. And money alone won't fix this problem.
It’s time to speak up and speak out. Malala arrives at the UN today – the more of us that stand behind her supporting her petition the more she will be heard around the world, and force world leaders to pay attention to what is happening in their own countries.
Thanks – as always – for your good heart and for joining in where it matters most.