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12-Year-Old School Kids Chose To Name A Park After Malala Yousafzai

There were no streets in the area named after women, so the children changed that.
Joe Giddens - PA Images via Getty Images

A park in Cubillos del Sil in north-western Spain has been named after education advocate and campaigner for girls' rights Malala Yousafzai by 12-year-old school children.

Spanish News site BierzoTV reports that the initiative started two years ago, when students participated in an activity related to International Women's Day. The students' teacher at the time told BierzoTV that they noticed there were no streets in the local area named after women. The school then wrote to the City Council to address the matter and ask for a space that could be dedicated to a woman.

The council gave the children a designated space, plus asked them to choose the name of the park. The children chose to name the park in honour of Malala.

The mayor of Cubillos del Sil, Antonio Cuellas attended the inauguration of the space.

"It has been an appropriate designation for a space that is used by children for leisure and recreation," Cuellas told BierzoTV.

Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban in 2012 for being an outspoken advocate for girls' education. Since her recovery, she has become an internationally renowned education activist, co-authoring a bestselling book 'I am Malala' in 2013 and becoming the youngest person in history to be named a Nobel Prize Laureate in 2014.

In August 2017, Malala began her studies at Oxford University. She is studying a bachelor degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

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