Malala Yousafzai to tell UN: books and pens are our most powerful weapons

Malala Yousafzai: education is the only solution. Photograph: BBC

Malala Yousafzi, the Pakistani schoolgirl brought to England after being shot in the head by the Taliban, will address the United Nations today.

She will mark her 16th birthday by delivering a speech at the UN headquarters in New York to call on governments to ensure free compulsory education for every child.

It will be the teenager's first public speech since she was attacked on a bus in Pakistan's north-western Swat valley after standing up for her right to go to school in her home country.

She will tell a delegation of more than 500 young people: "Let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons.

"One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution. Education first."

The schoolgirl set up the Malala Fund following the assassination attempt by the Taliban in October.

She spent hours undergoing surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where surgeons tried to repair the damage caused by a bullet which grazed her brain.

A report released to coincide with her address says 57 million children around the world are not going to school.

The UNESCO and Save the Children study says the number of children of primary school age who are not getting an education has fallen from 60 million in 2008, but during that period the percentage of young people in conflict-affected countries who are not at primary school rose from 42% to 50%.

Save The Children said the report showed that in 2012 there were more than 3,600 documented attacks on education, including violence, torture and intimidation against children and teachers resulting in death or grave injuries, as well as the shelling and bombing of schools and the recruitment of school-aged children by armed groups.

Since the start of the Syria conflict more than two years ago, 3,900 schools have been destroyed, damaged or are occupied for non-educational purposes, the report says.

The report, Children Still Battling to go to School, finds that 95% of the 28.5 million children not getting a primary school education live in low and lower-middle income countries – 44% in sub-Saharan Africa, 19% in south and west Asia and 14% in the Arab states, UNESCO said.

Girls make up 55% of the total and were often the victims of rape and other sexual violence that accompanies armed conflicts, UNESCO said.

"Across many of the world's poorest countries, armed conflict continues to destroy not just school infrastructure, but also the hopes and ambitions of a whole generation of children," UNESCO's director-general, Irina Bokova, said.

Malala, who now attends Edgbaston High School for girls in Birmingham, will present a petition of more than 3 million signatures to the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon, demanding education for all.

The UN has declared 12 July, her birthday, "Malala Day". The event has been organised by the former prime minister Gordon Brown, now the UN special envoy for global education.

He said: "Getting every girl and boy into school by 2015 is achievable.

"It is only impossible if people say it's impossible. Malala says it is possible – and young people all over the world think it is possible."

Teenagers Sam Whittingham and Millie Wells will represent the UK at the event after winning a national competition to become young ambassadors for the global campaign for education.

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